


Thicker than forget

by siojo



Category: One Piece
Genre: Horses, Knight AU, M/M, Major Character Injury, Memory Loss, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-09-12 01:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9049876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siojo/pseuds/siojo
Summary: Marco wakes up to the sound of horses and the smell of hay and remembers little of anything before that point. Now he needs to finish healing, get his memories back, and make his horse stop staring at him. And the cute stable hand is more than willing to help him will all of that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so, i finally started working on that knight au, which is going to have chapters because it's turning out longer then I originally planned. (Chapter 1 took the entirety of the planned word count and then some.), so here we go. Also, please don't expect any kind of schedule, I can't stick to one if my life depended on it.

Marco wakes up to the fiery burst of pain that accompanies the unconscious movement of his chest, teeth biting into his lower lip to keep from cursing, even though his tongue feels like tar is sticking it to the roof of his mouth.

Something went wrong, Marco can't remember what or even how but he does know that this much pain means that something went wrong. Trying to open his eyes only make the feeling stronger, one burns just as badly as his chest from the attempt and the other is blinded by the sudden rush of light, too bright after however long it's been. And he doesn't know how long it's been.

He can't remember much, a few scattered details here and there but nothing that makes sense. He has his name and a vague knowledge of horsemanship, some barely understandable instructions on how to use something in a fight, and a very vivid memory of a very strange laugh. Nothing to help him remember what has happened or how long ago it was, or even who did this to him.

Instead of panicking, and Marco does, wants to panic at all the unknowns and if he's safe, he forces himself to relax, pressing his head back against something solid yet with slight give and feeling hay along his back. He listens quieting his breaths until he hears the unmistakable sound of horses and some of the panic lessens. People don't get kept with horses when they are going to be killed, Marco feels entirely too sure of it.

“Oi,” Marco fights hard not to start at the sudden voice. “I saw that Glimmer, don't think that I didn't, you just tried to steal Red’s carrot. You know what that means don't you?” There's a moment of silence, as if the speaker is waiting for the horse's response. “That's right, no carrots for you today.”

“And what about you, horse?” The man, Marco thinks it's a man, asks suddenly closer than before. “How is he?” A snort and a stomped hoof are his answer. “I told you, I will stop calling you horse when I have a name for you but until than you are horse.”

Marco wants to laugh, but keeps himself loose limbed and breathing even as he listens to the man talk to the horse. He startles when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“You would think,” The man either doesn't notice or is about to reveal he knows Marco is awake. “That changing bandages would get easier, but it never does.”

There's a long winding piece of fabric being unrolled from around his head, soft fingers removing gauze, “Doesn't look infected at least, but I am a little concerned about the stitches so close to the eye still, even if doc says that it's fine. And we'll just wash it and put the stuff doc gave us on it.”

It stings and Marco can't stop the flinch, but it doesn't seem to surprise him, commenting to horse that it was much easier to take care of sleeping people, “My little brother,” He says fondly. “Can move like he's made of rubber and hates letting anyone take care of his injuries.”

This person, Marco decides finally, is not the one who hurt him. No one that happy to talk to a creature that won't respond, or that fond of a younger sibling, or taking care of his injuries to prevent infection could be the one to cause them.

“Ace,” The voice is female and softer than the man, Ace, “Are you talking to the horses again?”

“I'd go stir-crazy if I didn't talk to something, Makino, it's quiet in the barn until someone wants something and I'm so bored.”

Makino laughs easily, soft and delicate, “I brought lunch, do you want me to take care of the stitches on his chest while you eat?”

“Nah,” Ace answers. “I'll do it, you have to sit him up and hold him to get the bandages off and he's heavy. I thought we were busy, what are you doing taking a break?”

“I am the owner of this inn and I can do what I please,” Makino says, tone falsely stern. “And you would come bother the staff if you don't eat.”

“I was promised meals when I accepted this job,” Ace mutters around something. “And I do a damn good job for someone who has no idea how to care for tack and only the vaguest idea of how to put it on a horse.”

“And I get so many compliments about how well you care for horses.”

Marco is impressed, if what little he could remember about horses is accurate, and not strangely influenced dreams caused by sleeping in a barn surrounded by horses, taking care of tack is important and horses are tricky. He's also a little worried, how an Inn with quite a bit of clientele has kept them happy and not killed a horse yet.

“Thanks for the food, Makino. I'll finish up with our guest here and then check up on the newest horses. I'll come get you if he wakes up.”

“Doc is drinking at the bar, so it won't even take that long for him to get here.”.

Marco hears Ace laugh, “I bet he is, have fun Makino.” He hums softly for a moment. “Makino is such a worrier. She probably bribed Crocus to be make sure he was at the bar as often as he can be. That's the kind of thing she used to do when my brothers and I were little.”

Ace keeps talking, telling stories and making comments about how Marco's wounds look better and they're healing well for all that they were so serious. Marco wonders what he must have looked like when he had arrived to make them so worried about him, but Marco keeps quiet and waits until Ace has moved away before trying to open his eye again.

The light is still bright, burning, but Marco blinks rapidly to adjust his vision to it and finds himself staring at the wooden roof of a barn. Which isn't very helpful considering.

Not that Marco would recognize where he was if he could see more, but it would be nice to. See more, that is, Marco isn't sure he wants to know more about his past at this point in time.

He lifts his head slightly, catching sight of the stall door and a horse, it's head over the connecting wall and it's eyes on Marco as it's mouth moves. It's more than slightly unnerving and Marco would like it to stop, but his mouth is still dry and his head hurts.

“Oh shit,” Marco jerks to find Ace, he assumes it's Ace, it sounds like Ace, standing in front of the stall. “You're awake? Never mind, don't you dare move, understand? I'll get the doctor.”

Ace hurries out of sight and Marco stares after him, bemused, finally noticing the way the light has changed and wondering how long it was between Ace leaving and Ace returning, before returning to staring at the horse without an answer. The horse is still staring back of him, it's a bit terrifying and Marco still wishes it would stop.

“Well, I wasn't expecting you to wake up,” Marco glances at the older man standing in front of the stall, a heavy leather satchel over his shoulder and hair that defies gravity. “I'm Crocus, your name is?”

Marco clears his throat trying to answer, frowning when the dry, bitter taste in his mouth only gets worse. Crocus frowns, “Ace, get the man some water.”

Ace rolls his eyes, nudging past Crocus and into the stall with Marco, moving towards a bucket that Marco had noticed but thought empty, scooping the ladle and scooting closer to Marco with a grin, “Don't worry this is from this morning.”

Marco swallows everything quickly, sighing as his throat stops aching and his headache lessens.

“Sorry, I was actually coming to give you more water when you woke up and I got a bit distracted,” Ace whispers. “Do you want a little more?”

“P-please,” Marco agrees, his voice quiet and braking midway through.

Ace grins, “Of course!”

“Thank you,” Marco says finishing the second ladle. “Marco, my name is Marco.”

“Well than, Marco,” Crocus says kneeling down. “You were quite the sight when you first showed up. I wasn't sure you would make it.”

Marco frowns, “I was?”

“You don't remember?”

“No,” Marco doesn't. He has a strange sense memory of something sharp slicing his skin, but Marco honestly isn't sure if that's his memory or something he put together after feeling the pain of his injuries. “I don't remember much of anything.”

“Brain trauma isn't uncommon, not with how injured you were upon arrival. Your memories may or may not return, I honestly have no idea. It is very subjective,” Crocus says prodding Marco's chest. “You are healing well, better than I expected.”

“I am?” Marco asks fighting not to flinch when Crocus presses too close to the line of stitches that Marco knows are hidden under the bandages, can feel the tight pull of the skin and remembers the feeling even if he doesn't know why. “I-what happened?”

Crocus frowns as he shoves his glasses higher on his nose, “We were hoping you could tell us, Marco. You showed up at the door to the barn clinging to your horse and barely alive. Ace got you inside and hid you before running to get the innkeeper, Makino, to send a runner for me.”

“Hid me?”

“You've come through this way a few times,” Ace answers, leaning against the stall wall that the horse’s head was hanging over forcing Marco to look at the horse if he wanted to look at Ace. “Makino's inn is on one of the main roads between three kingdoms so we have quite a few guests from them. Last time,” Ace shrugs looking reluctant. “You told Makino that you were hunting down a group of bandits, and when you came back, your partner wasn't with you.”

Marco blinks slowly, “I was hunting bandits? Who does that?”

“Knights,” Crocus says undoing the bandages around Marco's eye. “You are a knight, another reason we kept you hidden. Open your eye.”

“Is that-?”

“Open your eye,” Crocus demands.

Marco complies, slowly, painfully, opening his eye, blinking against the light and startling as the barn came into focus.

“How is your vision? Blurry? Any issues?”

“No, no, my vision is fine,” Marco says closing his eye. “It just hurts to open.”

“That's good,” Crocus says wrapping the bandages back around his eye. “You are lucky, the knife that got your face almost took out your eye, I was sure that it had blinded you. Alright,” He packs up the tools and stands. “Ace.”

“Doc?”

“Make sure to keep the wounds clean and applying the paste I gave you. I'll check on him again in a week.”

“Thanks, doc!” Ace says excitedly as Crocus walks out.

“Yeah brat, you know where to find me.”

Marco glances at Ace, “Where do you find him?”

“Out drinking the young, cocky guests at the bar,” Ace answers. “Right sorry, I'm Ace. Portgas D Ace.”

“Marco. If I had a last name then I can't remember it now,” Marco says relaxing against whatever was under his head. “What's with the horse?”

Ace glances at the horse before turning back to Marco, “It's your's. Do you, you don't remember it either?”

“I don't remember the horse.”

“Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get your memories back,” Ace pats Marco's shoulder softly. “I have to finish my work, but I'll be in the barn, just shout if you need anything, alright?”

“Can you make the horse stop staring at me?”

“I can't control your horse,” Ace laughs brightly, standing up. “Maybe it will listen to you better.”

Marco stares at the horse that stares back, “Please stop?” The horse huffs and doesn't move, Marco is pretty sure it's his imagination that it's gaze seems more intent. “It's not working!”

“Then you are going to have to deal with it,” Ace shouts back. “He doesn't listen to me, I told you.”

Marco lays his head back down, pretending that he can't feel the horse staring at him, and focuses on what little he can remember, trying to sort it out. He's got a bit more than he originally thought. Some fragmented pieces of conversations with people who he can remember names but not faces for, a few scattered bits of how to dress in and care for armor, and a funeral.

“You're crying,” Ace says suddenly. “Why are you crying? Should I get Doc back?”

“I,” Marco swallows heavily. “I'm fine. Really. I was remembering something.”

Ace eyes him shrewdly, “Alright. I'm headed into the inn to tell Makino something and grab dinner. Think you can stand solid food or should I stick to broth and stuff?”

“Isn't that a question for Crocus?”

“Eh, he always says to find my brothers and I broth and that's not enough for us no matter how injured we are. I figured it was better to ask you.”

Marco stares at him, startled by the way Ace seems to think that Marco should know himself when Marco doesn't even know his favorite color anymore, he doesn't know his family name or where he grew up, but Ace still thinks he should ask. Marco isn't sure if he's grateful for the deference or not.

“Just broth, please.”

“Alright. I'll bring bread too,” Ace says grinning. “I'll be right back, don't,” He pauses. “If you hear anyone don't answer them.”

“I won't,” Marco promises.

Ace grins again before vanishing from Marco's limited range of vision and Marco drops his head back down.

For a moment Marco is terrified. He knows nothing, he doesn't know anything about himself or about where he is. He knows nothing about the person who hurt him or why and he can't help but think that's why Ace, Makino, and Crocus are all so cautious about who knows that he's in their care.

There must be someone looking for him. Family or a friend or even his would-be-killer looking to make sure the job was done.

“You okay?”

Marco glances at Ace, forcing himself to smile, “Fine.”

“Yeah right,” Ace says dropping down with the tray in his hands. “You wanna sit up or do you need help?”

“I don't know,” Marco flinches as he tries to push himself up. “Could you?”

Ace sets the tray to the side, sliding an arm around Marco's shoulders and easing him upright, “Need help staying up or?” He asks loosening his grip.

Marco shifts and shakes his head, “I can't.” It feels like weakness, like Marco should be stronger than this but he's not.

“That's fine,” Ace smiles. “I'm going to lay you back down, okay? I'm going to grab something to help keep you upright so I have both hands free to help you eat.”

“Thank you.”

There's something in his chest that grates at the need for help, that thinks he should say no and force himself to do all of this himself, except… Except Ace just wants to help, just wants to make sure that Marco gets better, and Marco is grateful for everything that Ace is doing for him. Even though Marco wants to do these things for himself.

“I grabbed another saddle,” Ace says reappearing with a grin. “I doubt you want to be all the way up but more of a slant should be alright, yeah?”

“Thank you,” Marco says letting himself be moved and letting Ace fix the saddles. “I appreciate this.”

Ace waves him off, grabbing a bowl from the tray and a spoon, “It's fine, everyone needs help sometimes, yeah? Come on, let's get you fed. The last two weeks it's been hard to to get anything into you,” Ace holds the first spoon out to him. “It's good, Makino's a great cook.”

It is good, Ace isn't wrong, and it's easy to eat the entire bowl and then the small loaf of bread that Ace tears up and feeds him in pieces. Marco would be more embarrassed if he could move his arms, but he can barely lift his head and has just been shifting it up the saddle he's laying on, so he shoves it aside until after he's finished everything Ace gives him.

“Thank you.”

“I said it was fine,” Ace grins shifting back to eat his own meal. “Sides, you missed more meals then I could get in you. It's only fair.”

“Not just for this, but for taking care of me and keeping me safe.”

Ace shrugs, “You keep the inn well protected. Your men too. Least, the other Knights from your kingdom. Your name is really Marco?”

“Do you think I'm lying?” Marco asks grinning.

“They usually call you Phoenix,” Ace answers. “The Knights that always come around with you. I assumed that it was like a last name or a nickname. I mean it could have been a first name?”

“It's definitely Marco,” He laughs, groaning when it makes his chest hurt, pulling at his stitches. “I don't know anything about Phoenix.”

“Must be a nickname then,” Ace agrees. “Marco is a nice name.”

Marco yawns, “It's the only name I know.”

“You should get some sleep. I'm sleeping down here,” Ace gestures vaguely behind Marco. “So if you need me just make some noise, Doc said you should sleep whenever you feel tired.”

“Thank you again, for helping me.”

“You're welcome. Want me to move the second saddle or no?”

Marco let's Ace fuss over him, fixing the blankets pulled up to his chin and adjusting the saddle before someone shouted for the stable hand and Ace had to hurry away, promising to come back when he was finished.

Marco muffles a yawn as Ace keeps talking to another person, wiggling slightly to get more comfortable before falling asleep.

 

 

Ace collapses quietly into the space closest to the barn wall behind Phoenix's head, tired and aching from wrestling the last man's devil horse into a stall. The beast had even tried to take a bite out of him when he had started removing the bridle and the man had laughed about how spirited it was. Ace hopes that one day it's spirited nature let's it bite him and see how he feels.

He sighs, turning on his side to catch sight of Phoenix, still asleep and snoring softly, and grins. 

They had been worried. With the injuries that Phoenix had arrived with and the quiet insistence that he had trusted them, Ace had made sure to hide him away and begged Makino and Crocus to help him. Not that they had needed much convincing, Phoenix was a good man, had come through this way time and again and been nothing but polite, paying more than he had to and checking that all the Knights paid their tabs.

But Phoenix didn't remember any of that. Didn't remember the knights he had come through this way with, joking and laughing, or about his family. Didn't remember who had done this to him and that's what worries Ace most.

Someone had hurt Phoenix and there was no way of knowing who or whom they could trust to help find out the person who had done it. The best choice they have is to keep him hidden, even from those who have already started looking for him, and hope that his memories return.

That doesn't mean that Ace doesn't feel guilty, he does, he feels so guilty, every time that a team of knights pass through and ask if they had seen Phoenix or heard anything and Ace has to say no. He knows he's suspicious, how he stutters and doesn't look anyone in the eyes, but he can't tell them that Phoenix is alive or that he's hiding him. At least not until Phoenix can protect himself.

Marco, at least until Marco can protect himself, Ace corrects watching as Marco, not Phoenix, twitches in his sleep. Phoenix didn't remember ever being called as such, only remembered Marco. Ace wonders if Phoenix was a name awarded to him for his duties or maybe a nickname given jokingly. Not that he can ask now, when Marco doesn't know the answer.

Horse huffs and Ace grins, glancing over to where it's staring at him, “Alright, alright. I'm going to sleep.” Ace promises pulling his blanket up over his shoulders. “See, all setup for human sleeping habits.”

“Are you talking to the horse again?” Makino asks startling Ace, grinning. “I wanted to make sure everything was fine down here before I headed off to bed, I heard that lord laughing about his horse almost taking a bite out of you.”

“I'm fine, mom,” Ace says rolling his eyes. “I swear, you missed your calling as a teacher or something.”

“Well I did take care of you and your brothers for almost eight years, Ace. Go to sleep, we have a lot to do tomorrow and Lord spirited wants to ride out just after dawn.”

Ace whines into his arm, hiding his face in the crook of his arm and refusing to look up, “Fine. Goodnight Makino.”

“Good night Ace.”

Ace listens to her leave and falls asleep to the sounds of the horses in their stalls, the weight of the day finally falling from his shoulders.

“You are probably a great horse,” Ace blinks awake, staring in confusion at the ceiling. “I would never choose a subpar horse, I'm sure, but I really need you to stop staring at me.”

“Marco,” Ace asks rolling to the side. “Are you arguing with Horse again?”

Marco makes an indignant noise, “I woke up to it staring at me, it was terrifying!”

“It's not that bad,” Ace yawns catching sight of the lightening sky and sitting up. There would be someone coming to wake him soon, better to get up then try and squeeze in a few more minutes. “Horse is a sweetheart. He carried you here when you were hurt. Took hours to clean all that blood off of him. And then to dye him.”

“Dye him?” Marco asks.

“He's a bit noticeable, so I talked to my brothers and they helped me figure out how to dye him, you're lucky you came while they were visiting, I have no idea what I would have done it they hadn't been here.”

“Your brothers?”

Ace grins, he could talk about his brothers for hours, “Sabo and Luffy. Sabo works for a spymaster and Luffy is an adventurer. They don't stop by very often, but they always have cool stories and new things to show me.”

“You didn't want to travel?”

“Hey Makino, I didn't think you were gonna deliver breakfast,” Ace says grinning, he hopes Marco doesn't notice the way he's definitely avoiding the question.

“I wanted to meet our guest,” Makino says balancing both trays on her palms. “Hello Marco, right?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Makino smiles, “I'm glad you're recovering, we were worried. Ace spent all his free time sitting here with you trying to make sure you didn't take a turn for the worse.”

“Makino!” Ace whines dropping onto the ground with both trays. “She is lying.”

“Of course,” Marco says smiling.

Ace wants to say Marco is teasing him, playing like he would his brothers, but that's probably his imagination, so he scoots closer, “Ready to eat?”

“Yes.”

Marco eats faster than he did last night, not enough to make him sick, but there is a difference, Ace eats his bread as he helps Marco through the soup. Mornings are busy, people leaving and wanting everything perfect before they leave, so Ace doesn't have time to sit around like he normally does at night.

“Thanks Makino,” Ace says handing the trays back to her after he wolfs down his own meal. “I have to get to work Marco, if you need anything, knock repeatedly on the ground and I'll hear you, okay?”

“If I need you,” Marco agrees.

Ace grins one last time before hurrying to get the horse from last night set to go. If it bit him then Ace was going to set the Lord's tack on fire and let it free.

He glances back to where Makino is saying something quiet to Marco and sighs, hopefully Marco would get better quickly and leave, before Ace got any more attached to him then he already was.

 

Ace is avoiding him Marco recognizes after the third day of rushed meals and stilted conversation. Ace is avoiding him and Marco is fairly sure that he doesn't know why. He doesn't think he's done anything wrong and Makino hasn't said anything about it, and Marco is sure she would if he messed up.

Perhaps it's something from before that Marco can't remember. Something about Phoenix, and Marco doesn't understand why he would be called Phoenix, he has a perfectly good name. But that's not important.

Marco likes talking to Ace. He likes the little stories that Ace tells him about dealing with the horses and snotty lords, the knights that stop by bragging about their adventures, and the men and women who arrive at dusk and leave in the pre-dawn light with cloaks over their faces. But he no longer mentions personal things, about his brothers or himself and Marco liked those ones best.

Which means he has to ask Ace why he isn't talking like he use to and Marco feels, he glances at Horse, who stares far too much still, awkward is the best word he can find. 

Marco is never more glad that while his memories are mostly gone that he's retained other things, like speaking and moving, and feeding himself if he could get the strength back into his arms, but his body feels like lead.

But that isn't what Marco wants to think about, he wants to know why Ace is avoiding him. Wants to know what he has done, he thought he and Ace were going to be friends. Unless that's not what Ace wants?

“You look thoughtful boy,” Crocus says leaning against the stall gate. “Remembering things?”

“Not so much,” Marco admits. “I thought you were going to visit every week, seems a bit early.”

Crocus snorts as he takes a seat at Marco's side, “I was going to, but I know your type, at least the type you were before. Knights don't like to stay down for long and rumor that got around was that Phoenix liked it less than most.”

“I don't remember being Phoenix,” Marco says ignoring the fact he has been waiting for Ace to sleep to try and get to his feet. “I wouldn't.”

“Ace already turned you in, apparently you aren't quiet.”

Marco sighs, “Is he mad at me?”

“Who? The kid? No, he wouldn't be mad about something like that, he and his brothers are the same.”

“He's been avoiding me.”

Crocus nods, “Kid does that, can't tell you much but he's got some issues. He likes you fine, however, and he isn't mad at you.”

Marco gets the distinct feeling that that is all he's going to get on the subject from Crocus, which is a shame, he had been hoping for more information. But it's enough, enough to know that Ace is probably more lonely than Marco had first assumed.

“Can I start getting up?” Marco asks instead, eyeing Horse as it seems to lean closer.

“You can sit up, you stand and I might just revoke that,” Crocus says grinning at Marco. “I know your type, you lying brat.”

“I'm fairly sure that I'm an adult,” Marco states frowning at his feet as Crocus helps him into a sitting position.

“I'll believe that when you wear armor like you're supposed to instead of getting injured enough that I thought you wouldn't make it.”

It's strange, but the words echo in Marco's head, though the voice is different, harder and lyrical instead the gruff, as if he's been told this before. He blinks the sound from his mind, focusing back in on whatever it is that Crocus is telling Ace.

“Are you suppose to be advocating for me to break his legs?” Ace asks in confusion and Marco raises an eyebrow. “That seems like a bad idea for a doctor to recommend.”

“It's a great idea,” Crocus waves Ace's concerns off. “I want him to stay off his feet until I come by again and if you have to, I give you permission.”

The look that crosses Ace's face is adorable, the way his brows draw down and his eyes squint. He looks like he doesn't understand, even though Marco is sure that he'll nod and go along with whatever Crocus says.

He does, sighing and leaning against the stall, “Fine, fine. I'll do it. But if anyone asks, I am going to blame you and you better accept responsibility this time.”

There's a story there and Marco wants to know it. He wants to learn everything about Ace, to be friends. For all that he remembers little, Marco isn't sure that he has many friends, not the kind that he thinks Ace could be, one who's always there no matter what instead of fairweather or through obligation.

“Behave brat, I best not find your legs broken!” Crocus shouts as he leaves.

Ace laughs, glancing at Marco, as he tries to stifle it behind his hand, “He likes you. He only gives people nicknames if he likes them.”

“I think he wants to kill me,” Marco corrects. “He says you can break my legs.”

“It's normal,” Ace is still smiling and slightly breathless and- Oh, Marco thinks suddenly- gorgeous. “Crocus is a cranky old man. Need anything before I get back to work?”

Marco shakes his head, afraid what will come out of his mouth should he open it, and watching Ace hurry away with his heart in his throat.

It's not fair, not fair to himself or Ace for this to happen, not when for all Marco knows there is someone waiting for him to come back home, a wife or husband, someone sitting up at night waiting for him to come home. Marco's heart aches, better that he catch this now, when he can shove it away and never actually act on it.

At least, Marco glances to where he can just see the top of Ace's head, until he knows if there is someone waiting for him and isn't it horrible that he hopes there isn't? That he hopes that there isn't someone because he thinks he could love Ace if he has the chance. Marco wants that chance.

“I would really like you to stop,” Marco tells Horse, startled out of his thoughts. “It's more than a little creepy to turn and see you like that.”

Horse huffs and moves away to eat and Marco considers it a victory, even though he knows the food is new and Horse was likely going to move before Marco said anything. Marco is starting to wonder why he picked this horse as his, it is a very strange horse, maybe it was a gift.

Marco glances at the ceiling and sighs, why couldn't his memories come back already?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marco learns some more about himself and Ace has many issues with lying and guilt.

“You are the worse horse that I have ever seen,” Marco informs Horse, staring back and trying not to break eye contact, refusing to lose to a horse, again. “I don’t know how you ended up as my horse, but I am sure that I don’t deserve you staring at me all the time.”

“Maybe he’s worried that you’re going to get hurt again,” Ace says startling Marco from his staredown, grinning as Marco jolts and looks up at him. “I mean, he did carry you here and likely saw you injured too. For all that he’s a horse, he probably is very worried about you.”

“I suppose, but he’s a horse, I need him to stop. It’s disconcerting to be doing something and turn to find him watching me like I’m going to vanish.”

Ace laughs, leaning on the gate to the stall that Marco hasn’t left the entire time he’s been awake, “Don’t be such a baby. He’s not doing anything to hurt you and he’s very good at letting me know when you are about to do something that you aren’t allowed to,” He scowls playfully. “Like stand.”

“I would never,” Marco mutters ducking his head in embarrassment.

“You aren’t very quiet,” Ace states, shrugging when Marco glances up at him. “And you know that I’m going to break your legs if this happens again.”

“You don’t have to break my legs?”

“And get Crocus mad at me? No way, not happening, you are going to stay off your damn,” Ace freezes, terror crossing his face as the blood drains from it, his hands going tight around the broom in his grasp. “You have to be quiet, okay? Silent and don’t say a word until I say it’s safe.”

Marco nods slowly, “Ace?”

“Just be quiet,” Ace hisses moving away from the stall and quickly fixing an easy smile onto his face as he vanishes from Marco’s limited range of sight. “Afternoon again, sirs.”

“Hey, kid,” Marco glances at Horse, tail swishing as if it was a dog, happy to see someone, “I don’t suppose Phoenix has come back this way?”

“No, no Phoenix’s here,” Ace agrees, Marco can almost tell he’s lying by the tone of voice alone, never mind that Marco is sitting right here and Ace does know that. Ace is the one that put him here and refused to let him move, threatening him every time he tried to disobey Crocus’ orders. “We would have told you if there were.”

“You can relax, we believe you,” A softer voice, kind and easy, says calmly. “You know, you sound overly suspicious every time you say that.”

“I-I’m not suspicious!”

“We know. We’ll be here for a few days, do you have stalls that you want us to put our horses in for you?” The second person asks again.

Ace laughs nervously, “I can take them, thanks. Wouldn’t want to keep you from Makino for too long.”

“Thank you, Ace.”

Ace is silent for the longest time, the knights’ voice going quieter before vanishing, before he sighs, “It’s fine now, Marco,” He appears leading three horses on leads, looking nervous still, shifting in place as Marco studies him. “I’ll explain in a minute, okay?”

Marco nods, brow wrinkling in confusion. He was Phoenix, Ace had made that painfully obvious in the days after he had woken up and still had issues calling him Marco most days. Which meant that he had been lying to the men that were just here looking for Marco. Who would know who Marco was.

“Alright,” Ace says rejoining him, sitting beside the entrance, his knees pulled towards his chest, looking younger than Marco assumed that he was. “You want to know why I lied, don’t you?”

“They know who I am,” Marco says desperately.

Ace nods staring at his feet instead of looking at Marco’s face, “You remember what I said about Phoenix, he was a knight, right? You’re a knight. You would come through here to go on missions, you told Makino you were going to be tracking some bandits that were harassing travelers recently. You and your partner.”

“Did you lie to them too?”

“No, they never came back this way,” Ace promises. “You said you trusted them.”

Marco stops in confusion, “What?”

“Whoever did that, you said you trusted them,” Ace repeats staring at his knees. “It’s why I lied to them. You said the person who did that was someone you trusted.”

“Someone I trusted,” Marco repeats to himself softly, hand going to his chest. “Are you sure that’s what I said?”

“You grabbed my shirt and said it twice, you were covered in blood and,” Ace shivers and Marco has a moment where he’s no longer in the barn, where he’s holding a bloody hand before he’s back, staring at Ace, blinking rapidly to push the image from his mind. “It was horrible, Marco, I thought you were dead when you first rode up and I...It was bad, Makino had to force Crocus to help you, he said there wasn’t a chance in hell that you would live.”

“And since you don’t know who did this to me, you’re lying to them?”

Ace nods smiling gratefully, as if Marco wouldn’t believe him, “We did think that you would be able to tell us when you woke up, but when you didn’t remember anything, we decided that the only thing we could do would be to make sure you were safe until you did remember.”

“You’re doing this for me,” Marco says softly, pleased to learn that things were different then he had assumed. “Can you.”

“Can I?”

“I wanted to ask them about myself. About who I was and my family, do you think that you could?”

“Well,” Ace tilts his head thoughtfully. “I might not be the best choice,” His smile is self-deprecating and Marco fights back a frown, because Ace is nice, even if he can’t lie worth a damn. “But I bet Makino and Crocus could get some information out of them without looking too suspicious. You have anything specific that you want?”

“Anything?” Marco shrugs. “I...I would really like to know if I have anyone waiting for me. Just so I know, you know?”

Ace grins, “I get it, I would want to know the same thing if I was you. My brothers would be just as frantic as your friends seem to be.” He stands up brushing off his pants. “I’ll go let Makino know and I’ll pick up lunch while I’m at it!”

Marco drops his head into his hands the minute Ace vanished out of sight, “Please stop, I’m already feeling guilty about this,” He tells Horse, who he can just imagine judging him. He needs to stop personifying the horse. “He probably thinks I want to know about my family and I just want to know if I can flirt with him without worrying about a lover being heartbroken.”

Horse snorts, moving to eat. Marco was thankful that he had stopped staring at him, even if it was only for a moment. He pulls himself together, dropping his head back onto the saddles and staring at the ceiling again, finally considering the implications of Ace’s words.

Someone he had trusted had done this to him.

It sounded ludicrous, that someone he could have trusted would have betrayed him by trying to murder him. Phoenix didn’t seem to have that much power, nothing about the stories Ace had made him think he had any status beyond that of a normal knight, even if he had gained the respect of others. Why would someone go out of their way to try and murder him? Was there something that he was missing about himself? Something that Ace didn’t know? That might have been kept quiet?

“Makino agreed,” Ace says easing the gate back open with his foot, trays balanced on the palms of his hands. “And she’s promised to ask Crocus to help. Apparently, he and the guy with the really long hair have to keep postponing their drinking contests and he can use that to get them drunk enough not to question what he asks.”

“So we’re hoping that Crocus can get them drunk enough to get answers without seeming suspicious?”

“You make it sound weird, but Crocus regularly out drinks Shanks, and Shanks might as well only drink alcohol if he could get away with it,” Ace says setting Marco’s tray down onto his lap. “I haven’t seen Crocus get drunk in seventeen years, I think he can do it.”

“You’re seventeen?”

“Nineteen,” Ace corrects, dropping to the ground. “But I didn’t meet him until I was two, so seventeen years.”

Marco nods, “And you think that the knights will do it?”

“I have yet to see one of them turn down the chance for Crocus to pay for their drinks, and he would, if any of them could out drink him. Mostly, Crocus gets a lot of free booze.”

“What you’re telling me is, Crocus challenges people to drinking contests to make them pay for his drinks.”

Ace grins, “Exactly.”

“And people never learn? What if they don’t have enough money to pay everything off?”

“Makino runs tabs, and you, that is Phoenix you, would come around at the start of every month with several men and traipse out to all the inns in the area to make sure all the bills were paid. It’s why people like you so much, you made sure that they were taken care of, even though you didn’t have to.”

Marco blinks at Ace in surprise, fiddling with his spoon, “And you? Did you like me?”

“I didn’t really know you, not like Makino and Crocus, but I thought you were a good person and that you were always nice to me when you came to leave me with your horse. You didn’t treat me like I was worthless or anything,” Ace shrugs. “You were nice.” He repeats like it means something.

“I was nice?”

“I did say I didn’t see much of you,” Ace explains with a shrug. “But you helped me one time when some of the horses were let loose by this brat. No one else did, they just yelled at me to get their horses back, but you told them to either shut up or help. You were nice. And you made the kid’s dad pay Makino extra for the incident.”

Marco is glad. It’s not close friendship or a business relationship like he apparently had with Makino, but Marco is rather grateful to learn that he has never been rude to Ace. It would be galling to learn that he had never been kind to Ace and yet Ace held such respect for him and had gone out of his way to make sure that nothing happened to Marco while he was healing. That now, without his memories, Marco was forced to rely on him, when he had hurt Ace.

“Nice is good,” Marco says smiling as he finally starts eating, pausing when Ace blushes and quickly ducks his head, glancing up to check if Marco had seen. Marco had, but he pretends that he hadn’t, acting like he was extremely interested in his soup. “I’m glad.”

Ace grins, cheeks still slightly pink and Marco ignores it, finishing off his lunch and setting the tray neatly to the side.

“I have some more work to do, to set up the knights’ horses, I’ll be back, okay?” Ace says when he’s done, collecting both trays. “Or do you need something before I go?”

“I-,” Marco pauses. “Do you know their names? The knights?”

“Hm, sure. They were Izo, Thatch, and Jozu.”

Marco repeats the names to himself, nodding when Ace asks if that was all he wanted. He knows those names, though he doesn’t have faces to match them to or anything really beyond some vague feelings connected to each one.

Izo is the scent-memory of flowers and the touch of silk with bright bubbling laughter. Thatch is the taste something delicious on his tongue, the whisper of secrets in the dark, and laughing annoyance. Jozu is more solid, less searching for words and more like Marco knows him better, though that could be wrong. Jozu is the clang of swords and the shout of an ally on his heels in battle, armor that gleams like glass and having to look up. None of them make sense, but Marco cherishes each memory that he is left with, even as he creates new ones.

They are people that knew the Marco who he can’t remember, the one that had been Phoenix and that means he wants to know what they do, to know who he is. Was. Marco isn’t sure if he is the same person anymore, but he hopes that he doesn’t disappoint, for all that he will not meet them yet.

It’s enough. It’s enough for now, until he can remember who did this to him, he clenches his fist and glances at Horse, who is once more staring at him, it has to be. At least until he remembers who tried to have him murdered after gaining his trust. Otherwise, he would never be able to go home.

 

 

Ace watches the knights through a crack in the wall, made just for this purpose, his feet kicking back and forth as Makino hurries the cooks and herself to make sure there is more than enough food ready for the rush that accompanies dinner. He should go back, take care of the horses and pretend that he’s fine, but he wants to hear about Phoenix, Marco, from people who knew him and this is the best way for him to get the answers that he wants.

“You are such a child,” Makino teases joining him for a moment, her eyes dark with worry as she watches the knights laughing with Crocus. “Will they search the stables?”

“I doubt it,” Ace answers. “Thatch and Izo will try to out drink Crocus, they’ll be too hungover tomorrow to get out of bed until late in the day. Jozu doesn’t come into the stables except to leave and retrieve his horse. And I’ve loosened the boards around all the doors and windows so that I wake up at the noise.”

“I am fairly certain that is something you use to do when you were a child,” Makino says covering her mouth as she giggles. “So, have they started drinking?”

“Not yet, Jozu made them wait until after lunch but it will be soon. See, they’re summoning over one of the barmaids now.”

Izo is talking softly, his head resting on his hand as he smiles elegantly at the young woman that his wave had summoned. Thatch is rolling his eyes and muttering something to Jozu like he always does, Ace wonders if he’s missing something, but pushes it aside as Crocus laughs and they move towards the bar.

“So,” He says slowly. “What’s this about looking for Phoenix?”

“He went missing,” Jozu answers, ignoring the mug placed by his hands. “According to his partner, who barely made it back to us, they were attacked not too far from here and they cut Phoenix down. Marshall doesn’t know if he was dead or not.”

Crocus hums, mug hovering before his mouth, “His wife must be worried.”

Thatch drops his head to the counter laughing, his shoulders shaking, “Marco? Izo, Izo, can you imagine, Marco, married?”

“I suppose it is rather humorous,” Izo agrees. “Marco isn’t married. In fact, he rarely shows any interest in anyone. Our father is beginning to despair that he will ever get Marco to marry.”

“Marco?”

“Phoenix’s name is Marco,” Izo says ignoring Thatch, who is still laughing into the bar as he starts to slide off his seat, only saved by Jozu’s hand settling firmly on his shoulder. “I thought you knew that, you knew him rather well before.”

“I can’t remember every brat that I’ve met, Izo,” Crocus says smirking. “I’m an old man.”

“If you’re old, what does that make our father?”

“Absolutely ancient,” Crocus answers as Ace moves away from the wall, his voice vanishing into the cacophony of the kitchen.

“Get what you wanted,” Makino teases still close enough to spy. “You can flirt with him all you like.”

Ace sputters, blushing darkly, “I would never,” He hisses, glancing around quickly to make sure that no one has noticed. “Besides, Marco asked me to see if he had anyone waiting for him. He doesn’t even know if he has someone waiting for him and I promised.”

“Oh, so Marco asked,” Makino says raising an eyebrow. “That’s so much better.”

“He did!”

“Why would Marco want to know if he had someone back home?”

“He,” Ace winces. “I had to tell him what he said when he arrived, he wanted to know why I had lied to the knights looking for him. I think he’s worried that even if he doesn’t go back that whoever did this will target any family that he might have. You know?”

“I see,” Makino doesn’t look like she believes a word coming out of his mouth, but she lets it go, waving him off. “I’ll come around later with whatever else Crocus gets out of them, keep Marco out of trouble, won’t you Ace?”

“Thanks,” Ace mutters feeling like a kid again, like when Makino use to be the maid that their grandfather had hired to watch over them. “I’ll go back then.”

Makino smiles as she shooed him off, letting him steal a handful of cookies from the jar as he slips past the harried cooks, and dashing the distance between the inn and the stable, laughing. Horse barely glances at him, still staring Marco down.

“I think he wants to kill me,” Marco says when Ace appears in his line of sight. “He plotting it all out, punishment for dripping blood all over him.”

Ace laughs, “I think you’re safe from the big bad horse,” He holds out a cookie. “Want one?”

“Sure, what is it,” Marco says frowning when Ace tosses one at him. “Is it, why does it have things in it?”

“You remember horses, you remember soup, and you remember normal food. But you don’t remember cookies?” Ace says raising an eyebrow before shoving a cookie into his own mouth and chewing quickly. “It’s chocolate, the bits. We’re on a trade route, so we get lots of interesting things, Like chocolate from this island to the west of Livyatan.”

“Livyatan?”

Ace nods, “You’re a knight of Livyatan. It’s a pretty big Kingdom, stretches from the shores to the capital and for miles in every direction between. We’re on the border between Livyatan, Adiutrix, and Fosu-go. Go north and you’ll get home, East to Adiutrix, and South-West to Fosu.”

“I’m a knight of Livyatan,” Marco says quietly as if he wanted to make sure he remembered it. “And so were those knights?”

“That’s right,” Ace agrees gesturing at Marco’s cookie, “Eat. Anyway, I overheard a little bit of Crocus’ talk with them, if you want to hear what they said?” Marco nods, trying and failing to say something around his cookie. “So, they laughed when Crocus asked if you had someone back home, apparently you don’t take lovers.”

“Well, there’s something else that I don’t have to worry about,” Marco mutters softly.

Ace smiles, “It’s really nice that you were worried that whoever went after you would go after your lover. Oh,” He bounces remembering another part of the conversation. “Your partner, Marshall, he made it back to Livyatan!”

“The man who was with me when we were attacked?”

“Yeah!” He claps a hand over his mouth, glancing nervously about for anyone nearby. “They didn’t say how badly hurt he was, but he made it back and he’s okay. I have to get back to work, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Marco agrees, smiling. “Thank you for the cookie, I liked it.”

“It was chocolate chip,” Ace grins. “Everyone likes chocolate chip cookies. If they don’t there are only two acceptable excuses. They’re allergic to part of the cookie or they’re evil.”

Marco laughs, “I didn’t know that chocolate chip cookies were so good at revealing evil.”

“Of course,” Ace sniffs. “They’re very good at revealing hidden evil,” He shakes his head. “I do have to get back to work, but knock if you need me. I shouldn’t be too far away.”

“I will, thank you again Ace.”

Ace waves as he hurries off, pleased with himself. He had made Marco laugh. And it hadn’t even been about Ace’s confusion again, like it had been last time. Ace smiles feeling giddy as he starts to clean stalls, he had made Marco laugh.

 

 

“Marshall,” Marco says slowly, the name is strange and he wonders if perhaps Marshall had a nickname like Marco did, one that was used almost exclusively instead of his name. It would explain why the name doesn’t bring back memories like Izo’s, Thatch’s, and Jozu’s did, but…

For some reason, Marco can’t even imagine someone named Marshall, which is strange. He can imagine what the others look like now that he has names for them, but Marshall is like a shadow. It doesn’t make sense and Marco doesn’t like it. He knows his memory is missing, but there’s something strange about Marshall that he can’t put his fingers on. Marco ignores it for now, he doesn’t know enough to figure out what is so strange and he can’t get more information.

“I am a horrible person,” Marco tells Horse seriously. “We can never tell Ace that I wanted to know if I had someone back home because I like him. He would be very upset and I don’t want him to be upset.” Marco is fairly sure that horses can’t roll their eyes and it’s all in his head, but he thinks that Horse does. “Don’t give me that look, I could have liked him before I lost my memory!”

It’s a possibility for all that Marco is sure that it’s unlikely and there is always the concern that Marco is projecting the gratefulness he feels for Ace saving his life into something more. But the assurance that he can take his time testing the midground, to see if this is more than being thankful for Ace’s aid and leading to real feelings without guilt is something he will be grateful for.

Ace is sweet, sharing things with Marco without thinking about it, but that could just be a side effect of Ace taking care of the brothers that he’s mentioned. But Marco likes it. Enjoys the company and the attention, even with Makino coming down to visit when she can and Crocus making almost daily checks on him, Ace is his favorite person. It makes him feel like the duckling that Ace had told him about, imprinting stubbornly on the first person that he had seen and thinking it something more.

He hopes it’s not going to end like that, he wants Ace to like him back. Now, Marco will settle for Ace telling him more stories and becoming his friend.

“You are a gorgeous horse,” Ace says from further in the barn. “Look at you, such a pretty horse. If you behave then you might even get a sugar cube, yeah?” Ace laughs and Marco bets that he’s batting the horse’s nose away from his pockets so he can finish what he’s doing. “I said if you behave, this isn’t behaving!”

Marco sighs, “I can’t believe this.” Horse nickers. “Thank you for your comments.”

Ace talks to each the horses as he takes care of them, telling them that they’re pretty and probably slipping them treats the same way that he does when he’s brushing Horse.

“You look really bored,” Ace says frowning at Marco as he enters Horse’s stall. “Are you okay?”

“I am bored,” Marco admits. “Not that you aren’t good company, it’s just there’s nothing for me to do and I...I think Crocus might have been accurate when he said I pushed myself.”

“I hear that most knights aren’t big on large amounts of down time,” Ace agrees, brushing something into Horse’s coat as he hums. “If you want, when I’m done here I can pull down all of your things from the loft and you can look through them.”

“My things?”

“Sure. You have things. Not overly much but still, things. We had to hide them, but we weren’t gonna get rid of anything. I had to carry all your armor up by myself because it’s so heavy.”

“I would,” He swallows his hands shaking. “I would like to see my things.”

Ace nods, taking his time caring for Horse before vanishing again to return with saddle bags stuffed full of all sorts of things, including a handful of worn maps, sketches etched as if someone had been adding to them, showing the changes to the area.

“This is everything except for your tack and armor. I can bring those down later if you want, but it’s bulky and I want to find somewhere to hide it closer by if you want to have it.”

“Thank you, it can wait,” Marco says dragging the first bag into his lap and undoing the buckle. His hands hover over the flap for a long moment before he flips it open. It’s neatly organized, carefully wrapped bottles of ink and quills buried underneath rolls of parchment and a handful of, “Is this a compass?”

Ace nods, “Makino says that you made maps.”

“Cartographer,” Marco mutters to himself as he shifted a protractor to the side. “I don’t think that’s a normal hobby for a knight.”

“Well that I don’t know anything about, but wouldn’t it be better for you to be able to draw a map, if only so you can find your way home. But I could be wrong.”

“Maybe,” Marco agrees moving his hand off the compass and snatching a piece of paper almost hidden at the very bottom, his name written elegantly across the front and a wax seal holding it closed. “Did you go through these?”

“Makino checked to make sure we cleared the food out of them, since we didn’t know how long you would be out for, but we didn’t touch anything else,” Ace answers. “She felt bad having to go through them in the first place.”

Marco nods, still staring at the wax seal on the letter in confusion, he knew it. He knew it, but for some reason his mind wouldn’t connect what he knew to what he was looking at, aided by the lack of memories that Marco is still trying to force to return to him. It’s not working but Marco wants them back, he wants to have his memories once more. He sets the letter to the side and opens the other saddle bag. It’s emptier than the first one.

“That had clothes,” Ace says nervously. “We took those out too. To dress you in and the like. Sorry.”

“Ace,” Marco says grinning. “I’m not upset that you cleaned my bags and made sure that I had clean clothes. I understand why you went through my bags, relax.”

“Thanks,” Ace says finally looking up from the ground close to Marco’s side. “We didn’t know how you would react and I know it seems like you don’t know what to believe, since you don’t remember us and-”

“Ace, I trust you. You and Makino and Crocus took me in and have kept me safe even though you didn’t have to. You saved my life and made sure that I have a chance to recover and live. How could I not trust you?”

Ace ducks his head, cheeks darkening red and his hands curling shyly into the bottom of his shirt, “Oh.”

“Yes, oh,” Marco says looking through the bag and finding a book and a journal. Marco hurries to open the second, groaning, “Of course it’s in code.”

“What is?”

“A journal. See,” Marco says flipping the journal to show the pages to Ace, never considering not to share it with Ace. Ace, kind and happy, who was always so willing to help Marco with anything that he might need. “The dates are written along the top and it looks like a travel log.”

“Too bad you can’t remember it.”

Marco grins, “That’s fine.” He slips it back into the saddle bag but kept the book. “It can wait until I remember.” He stares at the letter for a long moment before shoving it back into the bag as well. “Thank you, Ace. You can take it back to the loft if you want, I can’t do much with it currently.”

“You’re welcome,” Ace beams. “If you want, when we’re less busy at the inn, then we can bring down your armor and you can get a look at that too.” “If you don’t mind,” Marco says slowly. “It’s fine. You never know, maybe it will jar something loose,” Ace says lifting the bags back onto his shoulders. “I’ll be back in a second.”

Marco turns the book over in his hands, staring at the cover for a long moment before setting it to the side, he was a cartographer and a knight. He wrote in codes and kept logs of everything he did from the look of the journal. It was all interesting. Things that he hadn’t known about himself and Marco was glad to learn each of them. Gladder still that Ace and Makino had made sure that all the things he had with him had been saved and hidden for him to get back.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Marco answers smiling at Ace. “Thank you, for all of this.”

“It’s no big deal,” Ace says brightly.

“It really is. You not only took me in and made sure that I lived, but you’re going out of your way to make sure that I stay safe, so thank you, Ace.”

“You’re welcome,” Ace mutters. “Now, I’m going to check that Makino doesn’t have anything left for me to do today. Think you’ll be alright?”

“I have a book now,” Marco says holding it up. “I’ll be fine. Thank Makino for the cookie, please.”

Ace nods, “I will! I’ll be back in a little while, don’t try and stand up again.”

“I would never,” Marco says waving Ace off and glancing at Horse. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m not even lying this time, I’m not going to try and get up.” Horse flicks his tail. “That’s just rude.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which i update far sooner than i thought i would! i am so excited, who knows when the next will come out. i don't, will i stick to this weekly schedule? probably not.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco thinks that Ace would be a good knight, Ace doesn't react the way he expected.

Marco watches as Ace plays with the horses, laughing and petting them as he goes to check them over and refill their water and food, leaning heavily against Horse’s stall, finally able to stand for a short amount of time, “He’s lonely.”

 

Horse snorts and Marco rolls his eyes, knowing that Horse is once more judging him for his inability to notice things. Marco wonders if this is a usual thing, if Horse judged him just as badly when he could remember everything in his life. He quickly shakes the thought from his head and watches Ace again, head tilting to the side.

 

“Why is he lonely? He’s got to have friends right? I mean, he’s been busy taking care of me, so obviously he couldn’t see them before now, but I can stand and walk some, surely he can go see them, right?” Marco watches Ace laugh as he tries to keep one of the other horses away from his pockets, always overflowing with apple slices and sugar cubes. “Why wouldn’t he have friends? Ace is a nice person, he should have tons of friends.”

 

Ace was sweet and he liked to help people, even if he stuttered when he spoke to the guests occasionally or when he was nervous. Unless they didn’t like him because he stuttered? Marco wasn’t sure that he understood why anyone wouldn’t want to be friends with Ace, but he was also bias.

 

“You feeling okay still?” Ace asks grinning as he slipped into Horse’s stall. “Your legs hurt? Light headed?”

 

“I’m fine,” Marco agrees. “Thank you for asking.”

 

“You wouldn’t admit it unless I asked,” Ace says poking Marco’s shoulder. “You are looking better. Open your eye.”

 

Marco winces opening his other eye, “Thanks. I keep forgetting.”

 

“It’s fine. My brother used to have the same problem. He’s mostly blind in his left eye anyways. Our little brother use to punch him whenever he kept it closed.”

 

“Please don’t punch me, I’m fairly sure that I’ll fall to the ground and never get back up,” Marco says shifting further away from Ace.

 

“I’m not going to punch you. Mostly because I’m sure that you’re going to fall down and injure yourself if I do. Why are you bothering me? Don’t you have a book to read?”

 

“I don’t want to read right now, I want to stand here and bother you. It’s much more fun, unless you want me to stop? I guess I could if you wanted me to.”

 

Ace laughs, “I don’t mind you bothering me. It’s nice to have someone who,” Ace cuts himself off, a forced smile appearing on his face. “It’s fine.”

 

“Who can talk back?” Marco finishes.

 

“Why would you think that? I have plenty of people who can talk back to me if I wanted them to. It’s not like people don’t talk to me,” Ace says ignoring the look that Marco shot him.

 

“You’re really convincing me.”

 

Ace sighs, running the comb through Horse’s mane, “I’m a busy person, I don’t have much time to go and see people and most of my friends are busy. Married or travelling for work or like my brothers,” Marco assumes that means off on adventures, since that’s how he describes all of brothers travels. “But I have Makino and Crocus.”

 

“And Makino and Crocus must have other people?”

 

“Sure. Makino is friendly with most of the staff and she’s close to quite a few of our regular customers, knights and merchants from different places. And Crocus knows them too, mostly because they keep trying to out drink him.”

 

“And you don’t have anyone like that?”

 

“I’m too busy for that,” 

 

And Marco wonders if he’s suppose to believe that. Ace usually finishes with more than enough time to spend hours with Marco, even when he doesn’t hurry through his chores. Which means that even if Ace lingered over them, spent extra time on his tasks, he would finish with at least a few hours to spare and what would he do with that if Marco wasn’t there? Just wait in the barn until it was time for him to go to sleep?

 

“What do you do when you don’t have anything to do?”

 

“One of Makino’s friends is teaching me how to sword fight when he’s around,” Ace answers grinning. “I practice a lot. I’m not very good.”

 

“I haven’t seen you practicing.”

 

“Well, no,” Ace agrees. “I’ve been so busy between my work and taking care of you that I haven’t had much time to practice and the time I do have is too dark to practice. I promised to only practice when I could see what I was doing.”

 

“You could practice when you’re done,” Marco offers. “I might even remember a little of my own training to help you. I can’t promise of course, but there’s a chance.”

 

Ace grins, “If you’re sure? I mean, you don’t have to, we’d have to go out the barn and practice there.”

 

“Of course I’m sure.”

 

“Thank you!” Ace says throwing himself over the top of the stall and hugging Marco excitedly. “Thank you, thank you!”

 

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Marco say using one hand to steady himself. “I can’t even promise that I can remember anything, but you never know, watching you might jog something loose.”

 

“No one ever helps me. Other than Makino’s friend and he’s busy. Apparently there’s someone trying to edge in on Fusu Go and he’s a,” Ace pauses before shrugging. “He does something for the country, I guess. I don’t really know what.”

 

Marco hums, “Then you better hurry up and we can go and see how much I can remember to help.”

 

Ace grins but still takes his time, finishing up with Horse before climbing up into the loft and hurrying back down with a wooden sword. Marco blinks back the flash of memory, heavy wood in his hand and sweat dripping from his face, the burn of muscles aching and breathless laughter, as Ace rejoins him, offering him a chance to wrap his arm around his shoulders.

 

“What do you know how to do,” Marco asks as Ace helps him limp out the barn and settle on a crate outside the barn doors.

 

“Mostly blocks and parries,” Ace admits. “He says that defense is important. You can attack all you want, but defense will save your life. It might have something to do with how he lost his arm.”

 

Marco blinks, “Lost his arm?”

 

“Huh? Oh, right. His name’s Shanks,” Marco ignores the flash of annoyance that the name brings forth. “He’s one of the best swordsman. He use to be even better, but he lost his right arm protecting Luffy from something and had to relearn how to fight with his left. He’s really cool but he gets weird about defense sometimes.”

 

“Losing an arm in a fight could do that to someone.”

 

Ace nods, “I’m going to run through my blocks, parries, and the few attacks that I know, don’t do anything stupid.”

 

Marco rolls his eyes, resting his chin in the palm of his hand, watching intently as Ace started. None of it seems remotely familiar and Marco is about to stop paying so much attention when Ace stumbles, his feet tripping over each other.

 

“You need to work on your footwork.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Footwork, it’s about knowing where your feet are and not tripping yourself up. Put your sword down and just run through the steps without it a few times until you get a feel for it.”

 

Ace nods slowly, setting his practice sword to the side and starting again. He frowns when his feet tangle, repeating the steps more slowly, “I guess I’m going to have to wait on this one. I think I need to ask Shanks what I’m doing wrong.”

 

"It's not wrong. Not really. Just, you don't seem to really know what you're doing and that's a little worrisome. I wish I could be more help, but all I can tell is that you're doing something wrong, I just don't know what exactly," Marco apologizes feeling uncomfortably useless once more.

 

Ace laughs, "You have amnesia, Marco. I don't exactly think that you were going to be overly much help with this, don't worry. This is just me practicing, that's all."

 

"I want to help," Marco states leaning forward and frowning. "I want to help and it's annoying that I can't seem to help you."

 

"Don't worry so much. Just watch me practice and enjoy being out of the barn for the first time in forever."

 

"I will."

 

Ace grins, picking his practice sword back up and starting his newest set of practice moves. Marco watches for a minute longer before glancing curiously around. There isn't much to see. The back of the barn is only a short distance from the back entrance to the inn and it blocks the road from view. There's a bit of a forest in the distance and he can hear the bustle from the inn's kitchens. It's nice and the sun is warm.

 

Marco sighs, leaning back against the barn and closing his eyes happily. It's enough that he's willing to relax. He knows that Ace won't let anything happen to him while he is here and he doesn't have to worry about anything. Marco is fairly certain that he didn't get moments like this before. It's not a memory but the same sort of intense feeling of knowing that came along with the knowledge that Ace's steps were wrong.

 

"Want to go back inside?" Ace asks, startling Marco from his thoughts. The sun has gone down from it's zenith and the stretch of grass is darker than it had been. "You fall asleep?"

 

"I think so," Marco agrees embarrassed. "Did you at least get a good practice out of it?"

 

"You bet," Ace agrees brightly. "I might not have that move down, but I have others and I'm not worried about one block. I do wish that Shanks would teach me more attacks. Blocks and parries are all well and good, but they won't be enough if something does happen."

 

"Happen?"

 

Ace nods, dropping to the ground and laying back against the grass, "We're kind of far from the nearest outpost of knights. Sure patrols come out this way and we're not entirely defenseless because of that, but I'm scared that something will happen when there isn't a patrol close by. Crocus is good with a spear and Makino killed a man with one of her pans before, but the rest of the staff can't defend themselves. Not to mention," He gestures tiredly at the barn. "That is one of the first things attacked. They'll try and light it on fire and I have to either notice quickly enough to get it out or save the horses."

 

"Sword fighting isn't going to help with that," Marco says softly.

 

"Well no, but what about after I get the horses and myself out the barn? I have to help protect the inn and the people that are staying here. I can't leave it all up to Makino and Crocus can I?"

 

"You really care about that?"

 

"Yeah. I don't want anyone to be hurt if I could protect them."

 

Marco laughs, "You'd make a good knight."

 

"No," Ace says softly. "I really don't think I would."

 

"Ace?"

 

"I have some things to do. Do you want me to help you back inside? I might be gone for a while."

 

Marco shakes his head, "No, I'll be fine. Ace, did I say something?"

 

"It's nothing Marco, don't," Ace's smile is fake and his eyes look dead. "Don't worry about it. It's not important. I'll be back before dark, don't do anything stupid."

 

Marco watches him hurry off in confusion. What had he said that had upset Ace so badly that he would run away without saying anything? Marco doesn't understand and he wants to. What had he done wrong?

  
  
                                                                                                          

 

 

Ace frowns at the tree, his hands shaking and the practice sword at his feet having fallen from his grasp. It's nowhere near as cut up as it would be if the sword hadn't been wood, but it's not looking as good as it should have been if Ace hadn't attacked it. He should probably come with back an ax, it isn't going to survive that long in the condition that it's in currently.

 

He sighs, dropping down and hiding his face in his arms, knees pulled up to his chest. Marco hadn't meant anything by it, he knew that, but it didn't stop the words from hurting. He wouldn't have made a good knight, he wouldn't. He couldn't have, not with his- Ace cuts the thought off ruthlessly.

 

He looks up staring at the sky and relaxing when he realizes that he has hours left before he has to go back.

 

"You okay kid?" Crocus asks startling Ace from his thoughts. "Marco let us know that you ran off when Makino brought out lunch. I figured that I would find you out here somewhere."

 

"He said I would make a good knight."

 

Crocus snorts dropping down beside Ace and offering his wineskin, "You would make a good knight. You've got all the qualities that they look for. You know the bravery and things that they like to have in their men. What's wrong with that?"

 

"He was a knight too. You said as much."

 

"You can't let him rule your whole life kid. It's not what your mom would have wanted for you."

 

"Don't bring her into this."

 

"Roger was a good man. He made enemies and he did things that were selfish, but he was a good man above all else and you shouldn't have grown up hearing him demonized by Garp."

 

"Gramps never said that he was a bad person," Ace admits quietly. "He use to say that he was a worthy rival, but not much else."

 

"Well, there you go. He would have hated to see you doing this. Something that you didn't love. You don't have to stay here, you can leave anytime that you want and Makino wouldn't mind."

 

"And do what? Could you imagine the looks that I'll get if I go to become a knight? With my name? The kings knew my mother, Portgas isn't a name that would remain unconnected with Gol for long. And I couldn't leave Makino in that kind of lurch."

 

Crocus sighs, "Shanks would take you on without a second thought and beat the shit out of anyone that dared to say that you should have been kept from knighthood. He loves you, he would be more than willing to let you become his knight."

 

"Shanks was also a knight under Roger. He knew him better than anyone but you."

 

"That's right. He knew Roger. He remembers the man that he was before the rumors were spread about him and the horrible things that were told to people to turn them against him. You gonna hold that against him?"

 

"No. I like Shanks."

 

"Are you going to hold it against me?"

 

Ace shakes his head, "No."

 

"There you go than. Marco don't know who your father is. He doesn't know about any of his crimes or anything like that. He's just saying what he thinks, so why are you so upset with him?"

 

"Because I hate him."

 

Crocus laughs, "Kid, I promise that if you had ever met your father that you would love him. He was a good man. He loved you and your mom more than anything," He pauses taking a sip from his wineskin. "I ever tell you that he was dying?"

 

"What?"

 

"Yeah, in the end someone got a good hit. I'm the best doctor in the world unless that Trafalgar brat that your brother mentioned tries to take the title from me. I couldn't save him, but I could keep him going for longer. Bout the only thing that I could do. He wouldn't have made it more than a month after your birth if he hadn't let himself be executed."

 

"He was dying?"

 

"Yeah. Your mom, Rouge was quite the woman even when she was heavily pregnant with you, showed up at the execution and watched before I snuck her out of the area. It was close and we almost got caught on the way out, but we got some help from some of the old man's friends."

 

Ace sniffs, "Didn't they start hunting down any relatives not too long after that?"

 

"You bet. Had to split up not too long after you were born. I set off and by the time I got word of her, Rouge was dead and you were missing. Wasn't until Shanks mentioned that he had a friend with Garp that I learned you were alive."

 

"That was when I was two."

 

"Got myself close and stuck around. Roger had a genetic disease that would have taken him out if his injury hadn't taken him out first. I promised Rouge that I would look out for you," He grins at the look Ace gives him. "You don't have it. You got lucky."

 

"Thanks, that's what we're calling it." Ace mutters.

 

"You gonna forgive him? Marco was pretty upset with himself when Makino found him. Didn't understand what he had done and he wanted to apologize for it."

 

"It's not like he knows anything about it," Ace agrees. "I wasn't even mad at him. Just ... I was just upset. It was like he was comparing me to him and I-."

 

"Hate that," Crocus finishes. "If you want I can get a friend of mine to stop by, knew your father better than I did, and he can tell you if you're much like Roger. Not too sure that Rayleigh knows you're alive."

 

Ace laughs bitterly, "My whole existence is a giant lie to everyone."

 

"It's not a lie. Think of it as a game. Like Luffy. His dad's wanted in most of the world, but he still bounces around happy as can be. It's just knowing what you're going to do when people confront you about it," Crocus grins. "And Luffy uses his father's last name."

 

"He also has a very important general grandfather that will kill the first person that tries to touch Luffy in an attempt to get back at Dragon."

 

Crocus pats Ace's head, "And if you admit to who your father is, you'll have a whole lot of people who are more than willing to do the same thing, kid. Shanks would grant you sanctuary in his country and I'm not going to doubt that Edward wouldn't do the same."

 

"Edward?"

 

"Edward Newgate, King of  Livyatan . He and your dad were friends for all that they kept fighting each other. Claimed a lot of Raftel's lands when Roger was killed and offered sanctuary to anyone that was part of his courts."

 

"But dad wasn't even King of Raftel. He just," Ace waves at nothing.

 

Crocus laughs, "Your dad wasn't king because Raftel didn't have a king. He was the leader of it and people will tell you that it was a rough place to live, which it could be sometimes, but under Roger it was a better place. A whole country wouldn't rally around a mad man."

 

Ace nods staring blankly at the tree that he had been hitting before sighing, "I don't know what I'm suppose to think about him."

 

"And that's okay kid. You don't have to be. You can hate him if you really want to, but it seems like a lot of extra work, don't it?" Ace shrugs and Crocus pats his shoulder again, "Come on, you're gonna get hungry on me soon and Makino's probably worried sick. There's still bandits out here you know."

 

"I'm not a kid!"

 

"I never said that you were. I just said that there were bandits and Makino is a worrier."

 

Ace laughs picking up his sword and helping Crocus to his feet, "She kind of is."

 

"She worries far too much. I swear, that woman. She's going to drive herself mad if she keeps that up."

 

"Thanks," Ace mutters. "For talking to me and you know."

 

"You're welcome, kid. Now hurry up, I can hear your stomach from here. It's as bad as Rouge's. Roger's stomach was never that loud."

  
  


                                                                                                   

 

 

Marco stares blankly at the page that he's been trying to read since Makino helped him back into the barn promising that Ace was fine and that he would return before dark, but she hadn't told him what he had done wrong and Crocus had hurried off into the woods that Ace had disappeared into rather quickly after Makino had told him what had happened.

 

"Please stop," Marco tells Horse. "I didn't mean to do anything."

 

Horse's tail swishes in annoyance and it stares harder, if that's possible, until Marco finally sets his book down.

 

"I really didn't mean it."

 

"Mean what?"

 

"Ace!" Marco shouts turning to find him standing at the front of the stall. "You're back!"

 

Ace grins, shifting uncomfortably, "Yeah. I'm sorry for running off like that. I shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry if I upset you."

 

"I should be apologizing! I upset you not the other way around."

 

"I," Ace sighs. "I wasn't upset. Not really, I ... It's just when I hear myself get told to become a knight it's never in a positive light. At least, not normally."

 

"I don't understand."

 

"It's complicated and I-I don't want to talk about it, but I'm not upset with you. I'm not upset and I'm sorry for running off on you."

 

Marco smiles, "It's okay. I'm glad that I didn't upset you and if you don't want to tell me then that's fine. Don't worry about it, okay?"

 

"Thanks," Ace says playing with his practice sword. "I'm going to put this up, okay? And then I have some chores to do. Do you need anything before I go?"

 

"No. We're okay, aren't we?"

 

"Of course!" Ace agrees eyes going wide. "It's not your fault!"

 

"Okay. I," Marco takes a breath. "I want to be your friend. Friends don't upset each other."

 

Ace stares at Marco and Marco shifts uncomfortable under his gaze. He doesn't know what to say or do and Ace is still silent before his smile brightens his face, stretching and eyes going wide, "Friends?"

 

"Unless you don't want to be?"

 

"I want to be!" Ace says excitedly. "I want to be friends!"

 

Marco laughs, "Than we're friends."

 

"Friends," Ace repeats softly to himself, smile still bright. "I have to go, but you know how to call me if you need me," Ace hurries off and Marco hears him whisper friends to himself one last time.

 

"Shut up," Marco mutters glancing at Horse. "I want to be friends with Ace. Being friends doesn't preclude anything. I can be friends and have a crush. Lots of people do. I think."

 

Horse snorts, turning it's back to Marco. Marco groans, even the horse was treating him like he was an idiot. He wasn't. He just wanted to get to know Ace before blurting out his completely unrealistic crush on him, it wouldn't be fair to him otherwise. This way Ace could decide if he liked Marco too. If he ever wanted to be more than friends. Marco wasn't going to force him to. He sounds pathetic even in his own head.

 

“I want to be friends, better?”

 

Horse looks at him and Marco feels almost like it approves. He’s starting to worry that he should be concerned about more than just the memories that he’s lost. His sanity is starting to look dubious at best and missing entirely at worst. But it’s not all bad. Even if he is still worried about why Ace all but ran off after Marco said he would be a good knight.

 

“You look like you’re thinking too much,” Ace teases reappearing to check up on him. “Everything okay?”

 

“I’m fine,” Marco lies. “You would think that I would have an easier time remembering things, wouldn’t you?”

 

“I’ve never lost my memories,” Ace admits. “But I think you’re remembering at a decent pace. Not like you can’t remember anything, it’s pretty impressive.”

 

Marco nods, “Thanks Ace.”

  
“You’re welcome!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i return! sorry that it's been so long! I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Shanks and Benn come to visit, Whitebeard worries more about his son, and Marco doesn't understand Shanks at all, but he is pretty sure that he doesn't like him or at least he didn't before.

"Makino!" Shanks shouts throwing open the door to the bar and ignoring the groans of pain from the hungover men sprawled over a table in the darker part of the inn's main room. "Darling, where is my adorable little Ace?"

 

"Shanks, if you took your horse to the barn then you would have already seen him," Makino giggles rolling her eyes as Crocus mutters something into his mug. "Hello Benn."

 

"Makino," Benn nods in greeting.

 

"Ace should still be in the barn, I know he was talking about taking some time to work on his swordsmanship later, but he wants to finish his chores first."

 

Shanks whines, "But Makino!"

 

"I'll even let you take your mug with you," Makino says sliding one across the bar, shaking her head at him.

 

Shanks grins taking his mug and hurrying back out the door before anyone can say anything to stop him. Benn sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

 

"He seems to have more energy than normal."

 

"He's been excited to make his way back to visit Ace since you sent us that letter about how he's been letting you talk about his dad. Shanks has numerous stories about the things that Roger got into," Benn says sitting down and smiling when Makino pat his shoulder. "Thanks."

 

Crocus snorts into his glass, "I'm still waiting to hear back from Rayleigh. Where is that old fool hiding out anyway?"

 

"One of the big cities between Adiutrix and that island that Livyatan has under its protection," Benn answers. "We were visiting not too long ago. Shakky's opened up a bar in the shadier part of town."

 

"Ah," Crocus nods as Shanks screams. "Ignore him, he must have found our guest."

 

"Guest?" Benn asks worried.

 

"Poor man," Makino sighs wiping a mug clean. "He lost his memory and can't remember who hurt him. He's a knight from Livyatan, so we know who he is, but he doesn't remember much. Ace is caring for him."

 

Benn nods, "And Ace is okay with that?"

 

"It was the kid's idea."

 

"Huh, Ace usually hates baby-" Benn stops when Shanks bursts back in the door, booze drenching his shirt. "Shanks?"

 

Shanks pouts at Makino, obviously not as mad as Benn had thought he would be, "Why is Ace hiding Marco?"

 

Benn bites back a laugh, "Phoenix is the one you're?" He trails off to keep from being heard.

 

"Ace wanted to keep him safe," Makino states calmly. "It was his choice and I will respect that unless you think that I should force Ace to obey me? I thought you liked how independent he was?"

 

"But Marco," Shanks whines. "And he didn't even know who I was!"

 

"He has amnesia," Crocus says glancing over at him. "Hello, brat. How's the arm?"

 

"Ah, some phantom pain but nothing too bad. It ached like hell last winter and I couldn't figure out why for the life of me."

 

"Probably because you were slamming into so many walls," Benn answers for him. "He kept getting himself into trouble and slamming around, it was red and Doc almost  murdered him."

 

"There's your answer brat. Take better care of yourself."

 

Shanks pouts before turning back to Makino, "But why Marco?"

 

"He showed up outside the barn covered in blood," Makino answers softly, her eyes darting to the table in the corner and frowning for a moment before one of her servers hurries to help them, voice loud and friendly enough to aggravate their hangovers even more. "Ace says that the only thing Marco could tell him was that he trusted whoever hurt him."

 

"How bad?" Benn asks eyebrow ticking up slightly.

 

"Almost lost his eye and the slash across his chest looked like he was going to die at any point for a while. I told Ace as much but he was insistent that I help him. He'll be fine except for the lack of memories."

 

"Does Newgate know he's here?"

 

"We can't trust anyone," Makino shrugs. "Marco says that it was someone that he trusted. That's the entirety of Livyatan's knights and royal family. You know that better than I do."

 

Shanks sighs, "That means that I have to be nice to Marco! I wanna tease him like I always do, it's not fair!"

 

"You're the King of a country, the least you can do is behave around the Crown Prince of an allied nation," Benn states calmly. "And weren't we here for a reason? You aren't getting any younger and I'm not going to let you leave without completing your task."

 

"You are the worst," Shanks states. "Fine, I'm headed out to the barn again, but if I’m mean to Marco, I’m going to tell Ace that it was all your fault."

 

"Which one of us are you talking to," Makino asks curiously.

 

"That one," Shanks says pointing at Benn. "He's the Queen."

 

"That is not my official title, no matter what you think it should be," Benn states frowning at Shanks. "I'm not a queen, I'm a Duke and you know it."

 

"I should get you a dress like the court ladies!" Shanks shouts as he hurries out the door.

 

Benn growls, "I'm gonna throw this at his damn head."

 

"I'm sure that you will," Crocus snorts. "That's what you get for marrying the fool."

 

"He's a cute fool. It's his only redeeming factor."

 

Makino giggles, "I'm sure he has something else that you like."

 

"You are not allowed to insinuate things, Makino. You're ten."

 

"I'm twenty-six, thank you for the compliment, however, Benn."

 

Benn rolls his eyes, "If you say so. I'm sure that Garp will tell you about how you are such a small child."

 

"Garp likes to think his cute little grandsons are running around to gain notoriety before joining Ariutrix's military like him. He lives in a world of his own making."

 

"Never mind that his people are still baying for anyone of Roger's blood to be executed?" Crocus asks smirking.

 

"I suppose that Garp is a little delusional. More than a little with Luffy's declaration that he's a mercenary. He brought Trafalgar around last time he came to visit and said that they were in an alliance."

 

"Isn't Trafalgar got some kind of suicidal urge to go after the King of Dressrosa?"

 

Benn nods, "Luffy was very insistent that they were going to beat up the flamingo. Trafalgar gave up correcting after the sixth time that he said it that way."

 

"That's Luffy," Makino sighs. "And Sabo, have you heard from him recently?"

 

"Not for a couple of months, he said that he wouldn't be able to talk much on his current assignment from the start, however. Shanks did track down Dragon and make sure that Sabo was alright."

 

"That's good, I was getting worried about him!"

 

“We almost didn’t get the letter telling us that before we left. Yasopp ran it out to us as we were about to ride off,” Benn admits. “We were lucky.”

 

* * *

  
  


Shanks takes a deep breath staring at the barn door, "Just go in and act like you've never seen Marco before in your life. It's not that hard, just don't purposely annoy him, you know how to avoid that."

 

"Are you talking to yourself again?" Ace asks raising an eyebrow, peeking at Shanks from the hay loft. "Because Benn says that talking to yourself isn't good."

 

"Ace!" Shanks shouts. "How are you?"

 

"I'm fine? Are you okay? You scared the hell out of Marco when you ran out screaming like that."

 

"I just wasn't expecting him," Shanks says forcing a laugh. "Can I come in?"

 

Ace nods, "I set West Wind and Force into stalls by Horse."

 

"Horse?"

 

"Marco's horse. I don't know it's name and he can't remember it. Just head on in and I'll be done in a bit. You can wait in the inn if you want to."

 

"I'll be in the barn," Shanks says waving him off and stepping in.

 

Marco is standing in the same place that he had been when Shanks had run screaming from the barn. He glances up, blinking at Shanks for a minute before going back to his horse like he doesn't know who Shanks is, and he doesn't. Shanks is some man who ran out the barn screaming like a madman.

 

"Hello?" Shanks offers.

 

"Ace says that you don't usually run out the barn like that," Marco states petting the horse. "He also says to ignore you if you're a "dick"."

 

Shanks can hear the quotation marks around the word and it's definitely something that Ace would warn Marco, "I'm Shanks."

 

"Marco and this is Horse."

 

Horse stares at Shanks like it can see his soul and Shanks has never been more scared of an animal in his life.

 

"Does it always?"

 

"Yeah, Ace says that he's not that scary but Ace also works with horses for a living, I'm assuming he's become immune."

 

Shanks bites back something that feels like it could be scathing, "That is true. Is, is that a scar?"

 

"Ah," Marco touches his eye and nods. "Crocus was sure that I was going to lose it, but apparently I was lucky."

 

"And you really don't remember?"

 

Marco shakes his head, "I have pieces of things that I remember, little things that don't make much sense, but nothing that really tells me anything."

 

"That sucks."

 

"Thank you for saying so. I'm just glad to be alive, honestly. Ace told me how I looked when I arrived, it's a miracle that I survived at all."

 

Shanks stares at this version of Marco, so very different from the cold Phoenix that he's met on the tournament fields and treaty meetings. He's more open, his smile more like he's actually happy instead of trying to pretend that he is.

  
"Did I know?" Marco asks finally. "I think we've met before."

 

"We've seen each other around," Shanks isn't lying per say, no matter what Benn will say when he tells him about this later. "Why?"

 

"You remind me of," Marco pauses like he's searching for the words that he needs to explain. "Swords and fighting. Annoyance and poorly told jokes. Booze. Grudging respect too, I think."

 

Shanks laughs, "That actually sounds about right. The last time we met you called me an annoyance with delusions of grandeur."

 

"Ah, I'm sure you deserved it."

 

"I deserved it?"

 

"Ace says that you can be annoying."

 

"You've broken my heart!" Shanks shouts up to where Ace is still in the hay loft. "Broken it into little pieces!"

 

"Benn has a lot of experience gluing it back together," Ace shouts back.

 

Marco snorts, looking away when Shanks turns to look at him, "Who's Benn?"

 

"He's Benn," Shanks answers because there are other ways to explain it and Benn has told him that he can just say that they're married, but he's Shanks' Benn.

 

"That, I think that makes sense and I'm not sure how I feel about that," Marco states in confusion. "If you knew me, did you know Horse?"

 

"I know Horse. You let your youngest family member name him and they decided to call it Horse, you've been using the right name."

 

"Well at least I didn't name you myself," Marco says patting Horse's neck.

 

"You have a soft spot for your family. She begged to be allowed to name your horse and you caved like wet paper."

 

Marco hums, "I'm weak to children. Or at least people younger than me."

 

"Sorry it took so long," Ace says startling them both and breaking the silence that had settled between them, trying to pull hay from his hair. "I had to chase a family of raccoons out of their nest. Makino's gonna be mad that they got back in, again."

 

"Let me help," Marco says shaking his head.

 

Oh. Shanks knows that look. He knows that look because he's used to look at Benn like that before they ever got together, it's the one that means he's utterly besotted. Marco is besotted with Ace.

 

Ace laughs and bats Marco's hands away, eyes shining and Shanks wonders if Makino's realized exactly how badly they both have it for the other. He's not sure he's seen such obvious mutual pining in years. Not even Roger and Rouge had been this bad and they had taken ages to do anything more than pretend that it was perfectly normal friend things that they were doing.

 

"Why are you here, Shanks?" Ace asks Marco finally finished pulling the hay from his hair. "I thought you were busy recently?"

 

"I got ahead in my work and Benn decided to reward me!" Shanks lies because he still can't do it. Benn is going to kill him. "And I wanted to see you. How are you coming along with the moves that I showed you?"

 

"Okay, I'm having trouble with one of them. I keep tripping over my own feet," Ace admits and Shanks knows which one he's talking about, Shanks hadn't done well with that one either. "But Marco remembers some of his attacks and taught them to me!"

 

"You did?" Shanks asks Marco curiously.

 

"I was watching Ace and Crocus let me move around again, so I started copying Ace and then just kept moving. He was really good at learning by watching."

 

Shanks nods, "That's cool. Want to show me what you've learned and we can learn some more from there?"

 

"Yeah," Ace agrees hurrying off to put down his pitchfork and find his practice sword.

 

"He likes learning," Marco says softly.

 

"Ace is a good kid," Shanks agrees. "He's always excited to learn anything that people are willing to teach him."

 

"I," Marco pauses looking almost confused. "Does Ace always have a hard time talking to people?"

 

"Sometimes, Ace gets nervous and has to be distracted. He's a good kid normally, if a bit nervous about things."

 

Marco nods slowly, “I don’t understand why Ace is great.”

 

“He is,” Shanks agrees brightly. “He’s just nervous. Do you want to watch us spar?”

 

* * *

 

"You didn't find anything?" Whitebeard asks Izo tiredly. "Nothing at all?"

 

"We found a possible place where Marco and Marshall might have been when they were attacked. The clearing is a mess and there's what looks like a stain on the ground that might have been blood," Izo says calmly. "There wasn't a body or any bones, however, we also haven't found anyone that has seen Marco since that point in time."

 

Whitebeard nods, "And you've informed the inns closest to that point?"

 

"We did," Izo promises. "None of them have heard anything, but they have promised to let us know if they hear anything from Marco."

 

"I see."

 

Whitebeard glances across the room spotting Marshall easily, the slump of his shoulders obvious even at this distance. He had already turned in his paperwork to leave the King's guard, apologizing but swearing that he couldn't stay, not after leaving Marco to fight on his own like that. They had all been hoping that Marco would be back before Marshall had decided to leave the castle.

 

The throne room clears out slowly, Haruta already shouting at her people to start searching more thoroughly and hunting down even the smallest rumors about someone even vaguely matching Marco's description.

 

"I wish I could stay longer, Pops," Marshall says when they're almost alone, his hand going to the scar now curving around his forehead. "But I already promised to meet with some others to guard a caravan and I can't afford to wait any longer."

 

"I know son," Whitebeard sighs. "You do know that you don't have to leave, don't you? You can stay even if you don't want to be part of the guard or a knight."

 

Marshall laughs, "You've told me that a number of times, but I've made up my mind about this. I'm going. I'll come back to visit, don't worry."

 

"Stay safe, son."

 

Whitebeard leans back in his chair, tilting his head to the side as he watches Marshall vanish from the room, no longer smiling as he remembered what Marco had told him just before he had left on his mission with Marshall. Rumors about there being someone in their guard selling them out to others had been around for years, but Marco had claimed that he had found a lead on who it might have been, promising to share the information as soon as he had solid proof.

 

He couldn't help but worry that Marco had been attacked because the person that he was investigating had found out and decided to make sure that Marco never told Whitebeard who they were. It was worrying and knowing Marco, he had taken Marshall on a solo mission to see if it was him or not. The fact that Marco hadn't come home meant that Marshall had known who it was, even if he wasn't the leak himself.

 

"You look concerned," Thatch says softly from his elbow. "Worried about Marco again?"

 

"No, thinking son."

 

Thatch grins, "We saw Ace again, I told you about him, didn't I? He works at one of the inns that we always stop at when we're doing patrols and stuff."

 

"You have told me about Ace, he works at the inn that Crocus stays at, does he not?"

 

"That's him. He's a sweet kid, a little nervous and he has a habit of being almost suspicious even when he doesn't have anything to hide."

 

Whitebeard laughs, "Suspicious?"

 

"Yeah," Thatch says shaking his head. "Ace is magic with horses and he's a great source of information too, always relaying the rumors that he's heard and the people that he's seen."

 

"Ah. Why are you telling me about him, son?"

 

"Just that he still won't come and be a knight, even though Jozu asks him to come back with us every time we got to visit. His boss says if we can convince him that he's ours, but Ace is so picky, pops. He won't even leave for anything we promise, it sucks."

 

"I'm sorry son, I'm sure that he has his reasons for not coming back with you."

 

Thatch sighs, "I know, but he doesn't even really talk to us and I just want to be friends. I think he's still nervous about us even when we talk to him."

 

"You aren't making much sense, son."

 

"Ace," Whitebeard nods. "He's a nervous person and he doesn't talk to us even though we try really hard to get him to say something to us. I mean he talks a little, about the weather or our horses but he doesn't talk, you know?"

 

"I understand. You want him to be you friend and you're upset that he isn't letting you befriend him."

 

"Exactly! Why can't we be friends, pops?"

 

"I'm sure I don't know, Thatch. Have you asked his boss?"

 

Thatch nods, "She says that Ace is shy and he takes a while to warm up to people and that I shouldn't be disheartened, but I am! I am disheartened! I feel like I'm not making any progress and it's the worst!"

 

"I wish I had some advice for you son, but I don't. Just be patient and I'm sure you'll get somewhere with him."

 

"That's what Marco says too! I just want to be friends with him. It's not like I'm trying to flirt with him or something!"

 

Whitebeard laughs, "I know that you aren't son, but you aren't going to make friends with someone so nervous if you can't take your time to convince him of that."

 

"Ugh, you were suppose to be upset with me, pops, not lecture me on how to make friends. How could you?"

 

"I'm the worst," Whitebeard agrees.

 

* * *

 

Marco isn't sure what to think of Shanks but he's pretty sure that he doesn't like him, no matter how nice he is and how much that Ace insists that he's a great person. Every time they talk, Marco can feel himself getting aggravated and prickly about every word that comes out of his mouth. Which doesn't make sense unless they knew each other fairly well before he had lost his memory. After all, he remembered more about Shanks than the knights that had come through previously.

 

"You look uncomfortable," Marco glances at the new man standing close by, watching Ace and Shanks spar. "I'm Benn, Benn Beckman. You're Marco, right?"

 

"Yeah, you already know me, you don't have to pretend."

 

Benn shrugs, "I always feel weird when people don't at least pretend that they don't know who I am, you know?"

 

"I don't, but I don't know much these days. You and Shanks know Ace and Makino pretty well, don't you?"

 

"Makino use to work for Ace's grandfather and raised him and both of his brothers, he's mentioned them hasn't he?"

 

"Sabo and Luffy," Marco nods. "He says that they're the best and I've heard a lot of stories about them both."

 

Benn nods, "Sabo and Luffy are Ace's favorite people. Shanks and Makino knew each other way back and Shanks knew Ace's parents."

 

"What happened to them? Ace's parents, I mean."

 

"Can't tell you, Ace doesn't like to talk about his dad and his mom died when he was young. They're both dead, in case you thought his dad had run off. He's been dead since before Ace was born, I can tell you that much."

 

Marco nods, "Block!"

 

Ace shifts out of his attack, blocking the blow that Shanks was trying to hit him with before it could strike and wrenching the blade from Shanks' hand, "I win!"

 

"Cheating!" Shanks shouts. "That was cheating! How could you, Marco? I thought we were gonna be friends?"

 

"I wanted Ace to win."

 

Shanks scowls, "I can't believe that I've been betrayed."

 

"I like Ace better than you," Marco adds. "He's cuter."

 

Ace makes a noise that might have been a word once, but Marco is fine with his reaction, "I'm not cute!"

 

"I never said you were," Marco has figured this one out. He has a plan. "I said you were cuter than Shanks."

 

"Oh," Ace nods in understanding. "I am better looking than Shanks could ever hope to be."

 

Shanks gasps, "Ace, how could you? I expect this type of betrayal from Benn, not you!"

 

"You expect it from me, huh?" Benn says grinning. "I guess I should ask Makino for another room for the night since you expect betrayal from me."

 

Shanks pauses, "I, I don't mean it like that Benn."

 

"You don't?"

 

"Is this normal?" Marco asks Ace quietly, looking at the two of them in confusion.

 

Ace nods, "This is how they flirt. They'll vanish in a bit and come back in a couple hours. This is their vacation too, they don't get much time off and they like to have as much time together when they can."

 

"I didn't need to know all of that."

 

"I didn't either," Ace says shrugging. "But that's Benn and Shanks. They're both really stressed and have to work hard when they're back at home. This is about the only time they have off since they're so busy. Pass me that bucket."

 

Marco hands him the bucket in confusion, biting back a laugh when Ace throws it over both Shanks and Benn.

 

"Ace?" Shanks asks wiping his eyes and blinking rapidly to clear them of water. "What?"

 

"Go away, I don't like watching you two flirt and poor Marco doesn't deserve this. Get, shoo. Come bother us when you're done."

 

Benn laughs, wringing the water from his hair and grabbing Shanks by the arm, "You heard the man, Shanks, we're to go away and come back later."

 

"But we were sparring."

 

"And now we are leaving, it happens."

 

Marco shakes his head as they argue between themselves, "They're very strange."

 

"I know, it's weird. Makino says that most adults aren’t that strange. Apparently, we just got lucky with them. Help me with that attack you taught me, I think I'm forgetting something."

 

"Alright," Marco agrees standing up. "Get the practice sword for me and I'll see where you're going wrong. I'm sure we can figure it out fast enough for you to use it against Shanks in your next spar."

 

"And thanks, for warning me to block. I know you said I need to pay more attention to my opponent, but thanks. You could have let him hit me to prove a point and teach me a lesson instead of helping me beat him instead."

  
"I like you more than him."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marco finally learns more about himself and Ace gets to hear about Roger from Shanks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which i deviate majorly from the story i had originally planned out on tumblr with anon and i hope it's still okay because i didn't expect this to happen like this.

“Shanks said we knew each other. Before,” Marco says finally, collapsed on the grass besides Ace. “He didn’t say how, but I assume it was in tournaments, I don’t know how else we would have. Unless whoever he is a knight for came to visit Livyatan.”

 

Ace hums sounding thoughtful but Marco can’t see his face at this angle, “Shanks does participate in a number of tournaments, even with only one arm these days, and he wins a lot of them. It’s possible to have met him there, but I don’t know too much about how introductions are handled in Livyatan, I grew up not to far from here on the border.”

 

Marco nods slowly, “I think- I think I might know him better than that. It’s just a feeling, but … Have your brothers ever made a friend that you didn’t like but you were forced to put up with because they liked them so much?”

 

“Hm,” Ace agrees, turning to face Marco.

 

“That’s what I think it must feel like.”

 

“It’s possible. Shanks is widely know to be a bit of an asshole, it’s how everyone describes him, but if you are his friend, his ally, he would do anything for you. There’s a reason that he’s so terrifying with only one arm, you know.”

 

“You put a lot of faith in him.”

 

“He,” Ace pauses like he has to consider what he’s about to say carefully. “He knew my parents. My-my dad took him in when he was young and raised him. Shanks says that if I ever need anything that I should let him know and he’ll help me as best he can. Do anything he can within his power.”

 

Marco doesn’t ask. He wants to, wants to know everything about Ace and all the reasons that he clams up tight when anyone talks about his parents, but he wants Ace to trust him and forcing him to talk about those things isn’t the way to get Ace to trust him. So he’ll wait.

 

“You’re doing well with the lunge that I taught you last week.”

 

Ace laughs and Marco can see how grateful he is for the out given to him, “I can tell! It’s not half as hard as I thought it would be when you first showed it to me, but it’s not amazingly easy either, you know?”

 

“I know. I, the memory that I remember when I was showing it to you, I guess I wasn’t as good at it originally and I tripped over my own feet and fell face first into the mud. I remember getting laughed at.”

 

“I think anyone would laugh if you tripped and fell into the mud, Marco.”

 

Marco has never been so glad to hear his name. Ace hasn’t stumbled over his name in ages, but he likes hearing Ace say it instead of Phoenix. Phoenix feels like someone that he’s never met and is suppose to remember because someone insists that they use to know each other. 

 

“I see how much our friendship means to you,” Marco says gravely.

 

“You could laugh at me if I fall into mud. You did when it was raining last week.”

 

This is true, Marco had laughed at Ace when he tripped into the mud last week and ended up covered from head to toe. He hadn’t stopped even when Ace had wiped his face off and looked so betrayed.

 

“I suppose it’s fair enough,” Marco says finally, grinning. “Do you want to go once more or are you done for the day?”

 

Ace opens his mouth to answer as the back door to the inn slams open, Shanks grinning brightly at them both, his hair looking like he had been rolling around before rejoining them, without stopping to brush it. 

 

“Ace! I have returned from durance vile!”

 

“I’m telling Benn what you just said,” Ace states, moving upright and carefully helping Marco up, even though Marco’s chest didn’t pain him as much anymore. Marco takes his hands and grins softly accepting the help. “I don’t think he’ll be too happy with you calling it durance vile.”

 

Shanks pauses for a moment, eyes going wide before he shrugs and grins again, “It’ll be fine.”

 

“I bet Benn is gonna get his own room because of this,” Ace whispers to Marco knowingly, like it’s a secret. “He doesn’t like being called durance vile.”

 

“Is it really durance vile if he likes it,” Marco whispers back just to see the silly grin that crosses Ace’s face.

 

Ace does give him that silly grin, his eyes bright, and Marco wonders if he should be so proud of himself for something so small, “I don’t think it counts either.”

 

“What are you two whispering about,” Shanks demands finally stepping closer, eyes narrowed. “You’re not suppose to whisper!”

 

“Why not? You whisper all the time, I can whisper to Marco if I want to,” Ace shoots back, looking over at him, face the picture of innocence.

 

“Because I’m not involved! I wanna know what we’re whispering about!”

 

Ace laughs, shaking his head in denial, “Nope, can’t tell you. It’s a secret. Right Marco?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“No fair,” Shanks frowns. “But I actually need to kidnap Ace for a little while, if you aren’t too attached to him, Marco?”

 

“If Ace wants to go with you than he can. I don’t make his choices.” Marco says in confusion, his head tipped to the side to better see Ace’s face. “It’s your choice, Ace.”

 

Ace shifts nervously, eyes darting between them both as he bit his lower lip.

 

“If you want to go, you can. I’ll be fine here. I can walk on my own now, you know.”

 

“You sure, I don’t know how long we’re gonna be.”

 

“Go. You look like you really want to. I’m not going to stop you. If I need help then I’m sure Makino’s cooks can hear me and tell her to come help me,” Marco promises easily.

 

Ace blinks, “You mean it?”

 

“I promise. Go and have fun with Shanks,” Marco feels almost uncomfortable with the words, but he means them. He wants Ace to have fun, even if it’s not with him.

 

“Thank you,” Ace says finally, softly. “Thank you. I, do you need help going in before I leave?”

 

Marco shakes his head, “Go on, I’ll be fine by myself.”

 

Ace nods before hurrying off after Shanks, glancing back twice before he and Shanks vanish into the forest. Marco sighs when they leave his sight, deciding it was best not to lay back down, watching the cloud for a long moment before sighing heavily and shoving himself upright and moving back into the barn, feeling the ache of pain from moving too much even though his wound had sealed up just fine.

 

“I feel suspicious,” Marco tells Horse leaning heavily against the stalls as he made his way inside, being just as careful as Crocus had told him to be. Horse snorts. “Thank you for that.”

 

Lowering himself back to the ground is painful, the wound on his chest aching and his eye throbbing in pain from a lucky hit from Ace. It’s obvious that he knew Shanks far better than the other man had been willing to tell him, but he was willing to let him get away with his lie for now.

 

Marco drags his saddlebags closer, pulling out his book and running a hand over the cover before opening it, the letter he had found hidden inside it. It looks just like when Marco had hidden it away, letting Ace think he had replaced it with the rest of his things. The seal still perfectly intact and his name across the front.

 

“This is probably important isn’t it?” Marco asks Horse finally, fingers tracing the seal, fingers lingering over the whale and the bird hovering over it for a long moment before he flipped it back over. “It might be able to tell me something thing.”

 

Horse stomps a foot and Marco wonders if it’s in agreement as he slides a nail under the seal and eases it up slowly, sighing in relief when it doesn’t break under his hands and slowly unfolds it.

 

“Marco, my son,” Marco says softly, reading the letter to himself. “I hope you are safe when you read this and that your hunch about your brother,” He frowns harder, he had a brother? “Proves to be incorrect and that we might find the one who is doing this in another. He has proven to be a good man previously, I hope that you can find out if he did it for greed or was wrongly framed. Your siblings and I await your return, King Edward Newgate.”

 

Marco can feel his heart stop. Can feel the way his hands start to shake because he has family. A father. A- Marco stops, the letter slipping from his grip, his father was a King. His father was a king?

 

What did that make him?

 

* * *

  
  
  


“Crocus says that you would let me tell you stories now,” Shanks says kicking his feet in the river, his boots thrown carelessly on the ground behind them and his pants slipping down his calves from where he had shoved them up. “About Roger.”

 

“He, he was dying. Crocus told me that much.”

 

“Since long before I met him,” Shanks admits. “He knew when he took me in, was one of the first things he ever told me. ‘Before I offer you anything, you must know that I might not be around to keep any promise that I have made because I’ve been dying for almost as long as I have been alive’. I told him that so is everyone.”

 

Ace snorts, “And what did, what did he think of that?”

 

“He laughed and said that was good enough. I wish you could have met him, he loved your mom and he was excited that you were going to be born. He wanted to tell the whole world that he was going to have a kid,” Shanks stops. “He never got the chance.  Adiutrix invaded a few weeks later.”

 

“Why did-”

 

“Roger had taken some land from them in a treaty,” Shanks answers. “They wanted it back and they attacked and burned whole cities to the ground. The council had a traitor and Raftel fell. I wasn’t there, by the time I got back everything was gone and Roger had been executed.”

 

“And looking for my mom, it would have put her at risk.”

 

Shanks nods, “I tried. I looked and looked and begged Rayleigh to help me, but nothing ever came from it. Not until Makino and Crocus.”

 

“It’s not a big deal, Shanks.”

 

“Your dad took me in. He raised me. I, I loved him like he was my dad and I wanted to be there for you since he couldn’t.”

 

Ace says nothing for a long moment, “You’re here now at least.”

 

“Yeah. I was really excited when Crocus told me that you wouldn’t mind hearing about Roger. He, he was a good man, no matter what you were told otherwise. He cared about people and he wanted to keep those he loved safe.”

 

“Crocus says that Fosu-go was once the capital of Raftel.”

 

“I couldn’t find your mom and I didn’t have anywhere to go. The council, at least those left after the war sent a messenger to find me when I was drinking myself sick, before I met Benn, and asked me to take the throne. I, your dad was always avoiding naming an heir and so they decided that meant the throne was mine.”

 

Ace nods, “Did it help? Having something to focus on after?”

 

“Yes. Yassop will tell you how much of a mess I was when I first took over, his dad worked in the castle. I was still drinking myself to death at first, trying to keep up and do everything expected of me. Actually, that’s how I met Benn.”   
  


“You did?”

 

“Benn lived in one of the places most affected by Adiotrix’s invasion, he came to the palace to ask for aid, more aid, and found me drinking before the meeting, not that he knew exactly who I was just that I was important. He,” Shanks laughs. “He told me that King Roger would never have let his people suffer like I was letting them. That if the council had enough funds to spend on some spoiled member that they could help his village.”

 

Ace snorts, “That sounds like Benn.”

 

“Imagine his surprise when the meeting started and they called me King,” Shanks shakes his head. “He told me that he thought I would tell him to leave and refuse aid, but he was right. Roger never would have left things that bad for that long. I made him a deal, if he stayed and continued to be that honest with me, his village would never want for anything.”

 

“Do they?”

 

“No, Benn’s mother says that it’s nicer than it was when Roger was king. Benn was good for me. He kept me honest and made sure that I had someone that didn’t bow and scrape and- I married him over the council’s objections.”

 

“They don’t like Benn?”

 

“They love Benn, but Benn won’t give the country heirs. That’s all they’ve talked about since I’ve turned forty, where are your heirs? Who is going to take over when you’re too old?” Shanks shakes his head. “I asked Luffy, but he said no.”

 

“I think Luffy’s having too much fun as he is. He wouldn’t survive being tied down to one place like that. Gramps says that Dragon is much the same in that respect.”

 

Shanks nods, “I figured as much. I asked Sabo too, he said no.”

 

“What, you forgot about me?” Ace asks grinning.

 

“Of course not, actually,” Shanks rubs the back of his neck. “That’s part of the reason why I’m here.”

 

Ace stops, “What?”

 

“Ace, I need an heir. I know it’s a lot to ask of you and that it’s unfair that I brought it up to you like this, but would you consider becoming my heir?”

 

“A-are you kidding me?” Ace shouts.

 

Shanks shakes his head, “I … You were my first choice. It’s your kingdom really, for all that I call it Fosu-go, it’s always been and always will think of itself as Raftel and who better to come after me than the son of the king that they so loved?”

 

“I’m a stable hand, Shanks, not even a good one! I can’t run a country!”

 

“I was an orphan living on the streets and Roger was a pirate. I think if we can both be kings, so can a stable hand, if that’s what he wants to be. You don’t have to say yes, you can say no, Ace. This is me asking if you want it. I would never force you to do anything that you didn’t want to. But I also don’t think that it would be fair to make the choice for you, since it is and always has been your father’s kingdom.”

 

“If, if I say no, what happens to it?”

 

“Several of the council have offered to let Benn and I take in one of their children to take my place. They’re good kids, they would do well, I think.”

 

“And what, what happens if I say yes?”

 

“You would have to leave Makino’s, not right away, but after- after Marco was better. After he went home. The council would, they would want your name and your family, and you would train to be a knight when you finally came.”

 

Ace nods slowly, “Would you, if I said yes, would you wait until I was there to tell them about Roger?”

 

“Of course I would Ace, anything you want.”

 

“Can, can I think about it?”

 

Shanks grins, “Of course you can, Ace. Benn and I are only here for a week and I’m sorry but I need to know your choice before I leave, that’s all the time that I can give you.”

 

“Alright, I’ll,” Ace swallows the lump in his throat, “I’ll have an answer by then. I promise.”

 

“Thank you, Ace. That’s all I want.” Shanks sits still for a moment. “Do you want to hear how your mom and dad met? It’s a funny story and I think you might like it.”

 

“Please,” Ace says nails biting into his palms.

 

“Well-”

 

Did he even want to be King?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace contemplates what to do and gets some advice about things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a little short this time, but have a new chapter

Ace shifts to lean back, his head still whirling with the stories that Shanks had told him of his mother and father, the silly ones that had made Ace want to laugh despite himself and the ones that had made him wish more than ever that he had been able to meet them himself. Not to mention the request that Shanks had made of him.

 

To become a King, Ace snorts, to rule a whole nation was something that wasn’t suppose to happen outside of the stories that Sabo had told them when they were children and yet here he was, debating if he should take over a kingdom that once belonged to a man he hated.

 

At least Shanks had promised that he would be able to stay at the inn until Marco was ready to return home, no matter what he picked.

 

“Kid, you are going to get yourself hurt,” Crocus states frowning at him. “Thinking like that isn’t good for anyone.”

 

Ace snorts, “Thanks so much.”

 

“I’m guessing the older brat finally got around to asking you about becoming his heir then?” He asks dropping a bag onto Ace’s chest. “Lunch.”

 

“Thanks,” Ace says gratefully, forcing himself upright and teasing the knot open. “Do you think that I should do it?”

 

“What do I know about ruling a kingdom? I’m a doctor,” Crocus snorts taking a sip from his wineskin. “I know it’s bad for the health and I’m surprised that Roger lasted as long as he did with the disease he had and the stress of the kingdom. I know that Shanks looks older than he should sometimes because it wears on him. I also know that the only thing that made Roger happier than his people where your mother and you.”

 

Ace blinks at Crocus, swallowing the half of a loaf that he had shoved into his mouth, “He was?”

 

“Roger loved his kingdom and his people. Not as much as he loved Rouge, but sometimes even I thought that he cared about it above all else. Rouge was the same way. She loved Raftel and she did everything to keep the people safe, even running when it became too dangerous for Raftel to even be suspected of hiding her in the end.”

 

“He, Roger knew about me?”

 

“Your mom couldn’t hide it. He wanted to shout the announcement from the highest towers, but he wasn’t able to, with the war going on. Instead he told those he trusted on the council. I wouldn’t doubt that a few of them will react to your presence when Shanks introduces you as his heir.”

 

“Because I look like him.”   
  


“You look like Rouge if you look like anyone, brat. But you have his coloring and his temper. And if you ever attempted to grow a mustache like you always insisted you would when you were little,” Crocus grins at the face that Ace pulls. “You would possibly be mistaken for a ghost.”

 

Ace breaks a piece of cheese into his hand, staring at it and crushing it between his fingers, “What do you think that I should do?”

 

“I think you should do what makes you happy.”

 

“What?”

 

Crocus tilts his head, “Your parents are dead and the idiot that they made your godfather still won’t answer the letters that he’s been sent, so forgive me for the overstep, but whatever makes you happy is what you should do. It’s what your parents would want for you and what the other idiots want for you.”

 

“Even if I ended up running away and joining a circus?”

 

“Even if you just wanted a little row boat to fish from for the rest of your life. As long as you are happy.”

 

“And if I don’t know what would make me happy?”

 

“Than do what you want. And I might be too old to be a court physician again, I’m sure that I can keep myself healthy enough until I have time to badger the brat that will take the title until they are more than capable of keeping you alive and cared for.”

 

Ace laughs, “And teach them all the signs for the illness that killed Roger?” Ace ignores the smirk and the way that Crocus raises an eyebrow at Roger’s name instead of that man. Ace isn’t sure he’s ready for someone to comment on it just yet. “Just to make sure?”

 

“I promised Rouge that you would be monitored, you aren’t allowed to die from it if I can spot it quickly enough.”

 

“Shanks says that I have until he leaves to make my choice.”

 

Crocus nods, “Sounds about right. At least he didn’t ask right before he leaves. The brat at least has learned his lesson there,” He sighs as he stands up. “You should remember something, no matter what, this is your choice. It doesn’t matter what anyone else wants and if you don’t want to become a King that is a valid choice as well. Understand?”

 

“Are you always this helpful when people listen to you?” Ace jokes, trying to ignore how sincere Crocus sounds as he speaks.

 

“When idiots take the time to listen to me,” He agrees. “Think about it, Ace. You have sometime and you don’t have to pick what you think we want to hear from you, it’s your pick. Do you want me to check on your friend when I go back?”

 

“Please, I don’t think I’m ready to head back anytime soon.”

 

“Take your time, I’m sure if we cover his hair, no one would recognize Marco if I brought him inside.”

 

Ace laughs, sobering quickly, “Crocus?”

 

“Yes, brat?”

 

“Thank you. For everything. It, it helps. Hearing that no one will be upset if I don’t agree to be Shanks’ heir and that they will be happy for me if I do. You would really support me if I decided to become a fisherman?”

 

“As long as you didn’t hunt whales,” Crocus agrees and Ace almost stops him as he walks away to hear the story behind those words before thinking better of it. “Try to be back by nightfall.”

 

Ace collapses back against the grass, sighing as he stretches out, staring blankly at the clouds over head, lost in his thoughts once more.

 

He liked being a stable hand. He liked working for Makino, did he really want to walk away from this? To leave and never come back except for hard won vacations the likes of which Shanks and Benn took? 

 

His breath hitches in his chest, to give up the faint hope that maybe, one day, Marco would love him? After all, Benn might not have been royalty but Ace did understand that Fuso-go was not fairing well. He didn’t doubt that the council would want to arrange a marriage for political purposes.

 

A knight from another country wouldn’t be high, or even considered, in a list of candidates for marriage. Even Ace knew that much about politics. 

 

Ace rolls onto his side, staring at his hand as he tried to gather his thoughts. To arrange them in such a way that he could figure out what to do with himself, except he couldn’t. He-

 

“King,” Ace whispers to himself, testing the word on his tongue. “King Ace Portgas. His Royal Highness, King Portgas,” He snickers. “It sounds so weird.”

 

He wish that this was easy as the choice to as Makino to consider him for a job when he had been seventeen and running away before Gramps could force him to try and join the military like he had. That he could make the choice in the split second of knowing he had to go and that he couldn’t go too far when Sabo and Luffy still needed him to be there for them. Life had been so much easier when that was his only real concern.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jozu is hates reading Marco's handwriting, Benn thinks, and Marco makes a choice

Jozu pinches the bridge of his nose, the ache behind his eyes throbbing with each breath, but he forces himself to keep reading. Marco's personal journals were always harder to read than the ones that he made for missions and the like, written in a code that only he knew and that Jozu has spent the last five years trying to make heads or tails of.

 

He still isn't sure that he's got anything remotely close to what the actual code is, but it's two sided and Jozu know that he's solved one portion of it. He can get some information which is better than any of their siblings can claim. Except...

 

Except reading Marco's handwriting was a nightmare.

 

A nightmare that was going to kill Jozu's sight before he turned forty-five. Marco writes like he thinks that no one should be able to read it other than him and while Jozu has seen it before, he's also never tried to translate the last three of Marco's journals. The most recent other than the one that Jozu knows is on his brother, be he alive or a corpse, and the ones that will have any information about the traitor that Marco had mentioned to their father.

 

"You look ready to set it on fire," Izo states setting a mug down at Jozu's elbow. "Is the book that boring?"

 

"Like pulling my teeth out," Jozu says smiling wanly back at his brother, hiding the writing as best he can. He didn't want to worry the others just yet. Didn't want them to get their hopes up either. "You would think foreign writers would have better penmanship."

 

"You should write a strongly worded letter," Izo says almost smiling. "Pops has said that we should stop the patrols for Marco."

 

Jozu hums, he already knows that, he knows because it was his idea. He suggested it because it's been months. It's been months and there hasn't been a sign of Marco since the day that he had left with Marshall-

 

Jozu's stomach drops. It drops and his hands shake before he quickly hides it.

 

"Do you need another lamp?" Izo asks, stroking the fire. "I can get you more oil."

 

"Please," Jozu says wanting to be alone in his room for a moment and breathing out slowly when Izo says that he'll send a maid up with another lamp in a moment. "You wouldn't."

 

He flips through the pages and pages of notes he's been making and making notes of things that seem out of place of words and phrases that Jozu has never seen his brother use before in his life, but that he's heard from Marshall. Things that point back to Marshall and Jozu wonders if that is also part of Marco's code.

 

"For heaven's sake, Marco," Jozu mutters to himself pulling another sheet of parchment to himself to start afresh. "You're going to make me kill you one day. I can't believe you didn't just tell us."

 

A traitor in their family's home, one that they trusted and one that they had believed was one of their own. And Marco had been stupid enough to go on patrol alone with him. He had agreed to it when Jozu had asked him, offering to send one of their other siblings instead. Which meant he had been planning this for ages. Planning this for longer than Jozu had any hope of figuring out.

 

"I'm going to kill you if you aren't already dead."

 

He blinks at the knock on the door, shouting for them to enter and nodding at the maid that Izo had said that he was sending up, his eyes burning at the additional light as he thanked her for the lamp and went back to his work.

 

Jozu knew that there was more information hidden in the writing that he would likely never find, not unless he could break the rest of Marco's impossible code, which was as likely as finding a sword that could sharpen itself. But this was more than they had had before. This was information that they needed.

 

There had been a traitor, Jozu might not know how or why Marco had become suspicious or found out, but he knew that something had caught his brother's attention and he had hunted it down with the single mindedness that Marco was known for in these events. He didn't know what had pointed him to Marshall or why Marco had even thought to suspect him, but Jozu didn't doubt that Marshall was the traitor.

 

He was fairly certain, as he could be without the newest of Marco's journals to check what little he could break, that he had taken Marshall from the palace to confront him because Marco wanted to keep the family from getting involved until there wasn't a choice. Except somehow, the confrontation had gone poorly. Maybe Marshall had been arranging for Marco to be killed, maybe he had been gloating, but it had ended them up where they were currently.

 

There was a chance that Marco had lived through it, but if he had, Marshall didn't know. Marshall wouldn't have been so relaxed when he had left if he thought there was a chance of Marco still being alive. Jozu just wasn't sure where Marco would be-

 

He shoved himself out of his chair to the map on his wall, looking over the homes and the inns closest to where Marshall said that they had been, tracking routes with his fingers.

 

Someone was lying to him.

 

If Marco was alive someone was lying and Jozu wasn't sure that he blamed them. Depending on the severity of Marco's injuries, it was possible that Marco was still unconscious or perhaps was too injured to travel. Or, Jozu hopes beyond hope that Marco is still alive, but he doesn't know, or they had buried his body and were worried about how they would react when they were told that their Phoenix had been killed.

 

He wasn't sure which one he thought was lying however. There were a number of people and hiding places, which one would Marco, barely conscious, have picked as safest to retreat to?

 

"You look like you're planning something," Thatch says startling Jozu from his thoughts. "Or you've figured something out."

 

"If Marco lived, which one do you think he would go to?" Jozu asks arms crossing over his chest. "Who would he trust?"

 

Thatch pushes himself off the door frame and joins Jozu before the map, frowning at the different inns before putting his finger down on the same one that Jozu had been considering himself.

 

"No way that Marco didn't go to Makino's. Crocus lives there and they're the most polite when we come through. Why are you thinking about that?"

 

"Do you think that Marco might say something, when he's injured to make them suspicious of us? Of who they should trust with the knowledge that Marco is still alive? Is there a chance?"

 

"I wouldn't doubt it," Thatch says slowly. "You think?"

 

"It's as good of a guess as anything. We don't know what might have gone down with those bandits."

 

Thatch hums, "If I say that I think it might not be bandits, what would you say?"

 

"I would say that you aren't the only one."

 

* * *

  
  


Benn leans back in his seat and watches as Shanks flirted halfheartedly with Makino like he always did when they came to visit their friend, it was a game that they had been playing for as long as the inn had existed. Benn knew that Shank's heart wasn't in it, he was still worried about what Ace's answer would be.

 

Ace was the son of their first King, the one that had made Raftel into the country that it had been before it had been laid to waste by Adiutrix and Benn would have followed Roger into as many battles as he had commanded to keep Raftel safe. He had mourned when the King had died and he had hoped against hope that their Queen had escaped even when she was assumed to be dead.

 

She might have died, but Benn had never even thought to hope that they would have an heir beyond Shanks. They had announced years ago that Shanks was to be their heir, he had been ready for Shanks to rule, he hadn't expected to have married him. But then again, Benn hadn't known Shanks well before the man had become King and started to drink himself sick day after day.

 

"You kids think too much," Crocus states sitting down beside him. "You more than most. Between you and the brat, I'm being too helpful."

 

Benn grins, "And what did you tell the brat?"

 

"That he should do what he needs to be happy. I won't change my mind about that. His parents wouldn't want him to be anything other than happy. Rouge made sure that I knew that before her death."

 

"I would rather he be happy than miserable as King. No matter if I would like Roger's line back on the throne."

 

"It is on the throne. Your idiot is basically Roger's son at this point."

 

"To stay on the throne, I suppose is a better way to put it. I want Roger's line to stay in command, the council as kind as it is for them to offer up their heirs to us, it won't be someone that grew up with the values that we want to have in our heir. Ace, Ace is everything that Shanks wants his heir to be."

 

"You've gotten more romantic about these things over the years, I see," Crocus shakes his head. "The brat wants to make people happy so much that he forgets that he's allowed to be happy first."

 

Benn hums, "I heard that from Luffy and Sabo when Shanks mentioned that he wanted Ace as his heir. They told us quite a bit about their older brother. Apparently they want him to be as happy as he can be. Luffy said if we made him take the crown that he would beat Shanks up."

 

"The brat has a way of making people loyal to him. Including the one in the barn."

 

"Does Marco know what he is? Does Ace know what Marco is?"

 

Crocus hums, shrugging softly, "Ace might know about Marco, it's hard not to, but as in love our brat might be with Marco, he won't think that Marco could love him. He might not even have noticed his own feelings for him yet."

 

"And Marco?"

 

"Marco knows himself, for all that he has little by way of his own memories. He knows himself and he knows that he's in love with Ace, even though he's taking care not to say anything. He's smart enough."

 

Benn hums, "That sounds like Marco."

 

"Marco is a good man. Smart enough to know that anything he makes here with Ace now might not last after his memories return or he has to go back to where he came from."

 

"At least he's being smart. Does he know who he is?"

 

Crocus hums softly, thoughtfully, "I don't know. Marco doesn't speak of his returning memories much except to Ace and Ace has said that he's promised to keep Marco's memories a secret."

 

"Ah, so we're stuck watching them and wondering where this is going to go. It wouldn't be a bad alliance, having Ace marry Marco."

 

"You're already thinking of that for him?"

 

"There's been gossip about Shanks' heir being betrothed to ensure that there is an heir from them instead of this worry about getting an heir at the 'last moment'. I would rather not engage Ace to anyone that he doesn't want to marry."

 

Crocus nods, "That sounds about right. If that brat says that he's going to be your heir, you best remember to make sure my rooms are cleaned and ready to go. I promised Rouge to make sure that her brat wouldn't die like her husband and I can't do that here if he's in Raftel."

 

"It hasn't been called Raftel in twenty years."

 

"Are you saying that you ever call it anything else?"

 

Benn smiles, "I don't think anyone calls it Fosu-go unless they have to. It's always been Raftel, now and forever."

 

"That's what I thought. Now come on, before your husband drinks too much, I'm sure you would rather have him in bed without worrying about him vomiting up his lungs again."

 

"I'll get him. Thank you for talking to Ace, I would rather him turn us down for the sake of his own happiness than to accept because he thinks that he has to."

 

"I did it for the brat."

 

"I'm still going to thank you for it. He's a good kid and I want him happy. Raftel would want him happy if they knew who he was. I can't wait  for him to be announced and for them to know just who he is, if he says yes, of course."

 

Crocus snorts, "I'm sure. Get Shanks and sleep, you both look like you need that more than anything."

 

* * *

 

Marco closes his eyes as he hears Ace come back into the barn, his hands hiding under the blankets so that no one would see them shake. His nerves still unsteady after what he had read.

 

A prince couldn't fall in love and bring home a stable hand, no matter how much he might wish to. He could be friends, he could care for Ace but he could never love him. Could never marry him or keep him the way that he could a noble or a knight or a royal. He remembers that much, it's the only thing he knows for sure about his station in life, and he hates it already.

 

There's time. Marco knows that, he has time here with Ace, to pretend that he's nothing more than a knight that can marry who he wants and he will. He's not strong enough not to let himself pretend that he can convince Ace to love him. He doubts that he could ever be that strong. He won't make Ace love him, he can't break Ace's heart like that in the end, but he will be Ace's friend. He will make sure that he is someone that Ace cares about and that Ace knows that he cares for him.

 

He couldn't have more than that, no matter his own desires. It was enough.

 

It would have to be enough.


End file.
